WESTERN BROWARD COUNTY, FL-- Officials have found the body of the Orlando-area pilot believed to have been flying a small plane that crashed into the Everglades on Sunday night.
Federal aviation officials have not identified the pilot of the 41-year-old single-engine plane that nose-dived into a remote area of western Broward County at around 6:40 p.m., but the plane is registered to Edmundo Velazquez, 49, of Oviedo, a suburb of Orlando.
A woman who answered the phone at Velazquez's home and identified herself as Edmundo Velazquez's wife, Virgen Velazquez, said her husband was flying the plane at the time of the crash.
She said that as of this morning, she had not heard from officials on whether he had been found. He has been a pilot for 15 years, she said.
The airboats and a helicopter this morning resumed searching the crash site, which is in sawgrass swamp about 200 yards north of Interstate 75 on the north side of the Everglades, between mile markers 40 and 41 near Alligator Alley.
Late this morning, the search shifted several miles to the east.
The pilot was alone in the Aero Commander Model 100 that crashed after taking off from Tamiami Airport in Kendall, said Kathleen Bergen, spokeswoman for the Federal Aviation Administration. The plane was heading for Ocala.
Rescue workers and Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officers found the crash site Sunday night, but were unable to locate the pilot in the dark, gusty conditions.
Just a portion of the plane's tail was visible, the Broward Sheriff's Office said.
National Transportation Safety Board officials are investigating the cause of the crash. A preliminary report will not be available for about 10 days, NTSB spokeswoman Bridget Serchak said.
A Sun Sentinel photographer who flew over the scene this morning said the wreckage was in two large, mangled pieces that were about 25 feet from each other. The fuselage had three blue stripes on it, and the propeller was bent backwards.
Drivers on Interstate 75 called the Sheriff's Office on Sunday night to report that the plane heading northbound over the highway seemed to be flying too low, authorities said.
One caller said the plane appeared to have disappeared into the swamp.
The incident is the second plane crash in the Everglades in less than two months.
Four people on a Piper PA-32 were killed Sept. 20 when it crashed west of U.S. 27 in the Everglades near the Broward/Palm Beach County line. The plane was headed from Gainesville to Fort Lauderdale.
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