Body found after weekend Everglades plane crash

WEST BROWARD, Fla. (WSVN) -- The Broward Sheriff's Office has announced the discovery of the pilot's body, after a plane crashed in the Florida Everglades over the weekend.

BSO homicide investigators reported that they found the body of a Central Florida man who was flying the AC-100 plane from Kendall/Tamiami Airport to Ocala at around 12 p.m. Monday. Authorities said the 40-year-old fixed-wing, single engine plane crashed into the Everglades, near mile marker 41 in Alligator Alley, at 6:45 p.m Sunday night.

Kim Monville of the National transportation Safety Board said the airplane crashed only 20 minutes after take off with only the pilot aboard. "The airplane was fragmented, heavily fragmented," he said. "We've just begun the process of recovery."

He said NTSB investigators would lay out all the bits and pieces of the plane they find in a warehouse as part of their investigation into what may have caused the plane to crash. "It's early as you can see some of the wreckage is still behind me," he said. "The real part of the investigation will begin tomorrow when we can lay out the wreckage."

Monville also said they have major parts of the plane, but still plan to search the swamp for more pieces all day tomorrow. "We've got a section of fuselage skin and sections of wings right now," he noted.

BSO Fire Rescue and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission began their search for the remains of the pilot, who's name has not been released, on the night of the crash. 

Police and rescuers responded to the scene after they received phone calls from drivers who witnessed the crash. "One of the callers reported that the plane appeared to have crashed into the Everglades, about a mile north of the highway," said BSO spokeswoman Dani Mochella. "Other callers said it just seemed to have disappeared into the swamp."

Authorities said the plane is registered to a man living in Seminole County.

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