Small plane crash kills 5 in Florida

July 10, 2007

Sanford, Florida - A small plane, registered to a company linked to late NASCAR chairman Bill France Jr., crashed into two homes while trying to make an emergency landing in Sanford, Florida, near Orlando this morning killing 5 people.

The identities of the dead were not immediately released, but the Daytona Beach News-Journal reported on its Web site that Dr. Bruce Kennedy, husband of International Speedway Corp. official Lesa France Kennedy, was among those killed. Lesa France Kennedy is the daughter of Bill France Jr.

At least one of those killed was a small child, Sanford Fire Chief Gerard Ransom told reporters. It's possible another one of the victims was also a child, Seminole County Fire Chief Leeanna Raw said.

Four people were injured, three of whom were critically burned, authorities said.

Officials said there were fatalities in both houses and among the people on board the plane. Earlier, officials had said those killed included the pilot and a passenger on the aircraft.

The twin-engine Cessna 310 was registered to Competitor Liaison Bureau.

State officials told WESH that Competitor Liaison Bureau is a company registered to Bill France Jr., the former head of NASCAR who died earlier this year.

NASCAR said on its Web site that it is looking into a connection to the plane and its pilot.

The plane had taken off from Daytona Beach and was headed to Lakeland, Florida, when it declared an emergency with smoke in the cockpit and attempted to land at Orlando-Sanford International Airport, said FAA spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen.

Instead, the plane crashed about five miles from the airport in a neighborhood called The Preserve at Lake Monroe.

"First I heard a plane flying overhead. It sounded like a semi-truck coming down the road trying to slow down. As soon as it hit, it exploded into flames," a witness told CNN affiliate WESH 2 News.

The two homes that were hit were reduced to smoking rubble. Portions of their outside walls, blackened from the explosion and fire, remained standing.

"A boy jumped out of the second story. He was on fire and extinguished himself. The wife ran out of the front door. She was on fire. Someone was screaming about a baby still inside the house," a witness told WESH.

Terry Boyd, who lives two blocks from the crash site, told CNN he heard the plane overhead and then the explosion, which slightly shook his own house.

"There was a quick run of the plane and then you heard the big boom," said Boyd, who also provided CNN with pictures of the scene. "There was a lot of fuel in it because you kept hearing the booms over time."

Boyd, who only recently moved to the area, said neighbors were stunned, sitting on the ground and "shaking their heads in disbelief."

"People were gathering together, hugging each other. People were crying," he said.

The Orlando-Sanford International Airport control tower got a call at 8:35 a.m. about an Alert 1, which means an aircraft is in trouble, said airport spokeswoman Diane Cruz.

One minute later, the warning was raised to Alert 3, meaning a crash is imminent or occurring, Cruz said.

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