Sanford, Fla. – A small plane carrying the husband of a NASCAR executive crashed into a neighborhood Tuesday and engulfed two houses in flames, killing both people aboard the aircraft and three others on the ground.
The pilot had reported smoke in the cockpit and was trying to make an emergency landing when the twin-engine plane went down in suburban Orlando, officials said.
NASCAR confirmed that 54-year-old Dr. Bruce Kennedy, a Daytona Beach plastic surgeon and husband of International Speedway Corp. president Lesa France Kennedy, and NASCAR Aviation pilot Michael Klemm, 56, were among the dead.
It was not clear who was flying the plane. NASCAR said it was Kennedy, but investigators said earlier Tuesday it was Klemm.
Janise Joseph-Woodward, 24, and her 6-month-old son, Joseph Wood ard, were killed when the home they were in was hit by the plane, police said.
Also killed was a 4-year-old girl, Gabriela Dechat, who was in a second home. Her parents, Milagros Dechat, 33, and Peter Dechat, 36, were seriously injured and transported to Orlando Regional Medical Center, police said. A 10-year-old boy also in that home was transported to Cincinnati Burn Center with burns over 80 percent to 90 percent of his body, authorities said.
Matt Minnetto, an investigator with the Sanford Fire Department, said the plane was scattered in several pieces. The crash spilled aviation fuel, contributing to the fire’s spread.
A firefighter who responded to the blaze was hurt trying to reach the victims.
The twin-engine Cessna 310 had been traveling from Daytona Beach to Lakeland.
