PALM COAST, Fla. -- Flagler County's Fire Chief Don Petito tells Action News Flagler County Airport is one of the busiest non commercial airports in the state. But most never imaged one would come crashing down.
Miles in the air small planes travel the sky Monday. But down below on Utica Path, there is a sobering reminder of a plane in distress that couldn't reach the runway.
Craig McDaniel stared at the wreckage in disbelief. This could have been his house, which is just beyond the woods, less than 100 yards away.
"It's scary," he said.
The FAA says the pilot was trying to make an emergency landing at the Flagler County Airport not even a mile away. That's where the Flagler County Fire Department had been waiting. Then, Chief Petito and his team raced to the scene.
"We knew right away that there wasn't going to be any survivors," he said.
Chief Petito has been responding to calls for a long time. But he says nothing ever prepares you for what he saw when he got to this one.
"There was a lot of fire everywhere and when we went around back you could see pieces of the aircraft, the fuselage. First thing that went through my mind is where are the occupants of the house?"
He says seeing the fiery mess burning before his eyes, he's truly amazed Susan Crockett was able to make it out alive.
"It was amazing that she had the wits about her to be able to think about exiting the home and using that window to get out with the damage that was done to the house."
Susan Crockett's daughter Jasmine tells Action News moments before the plane crashed her mom had been headed toward the front door. Something told her to stay in that far back bedroom -- the only corner of the home besides the garage that didn't get instantly consumed by flames.
