A 31-year-old pilot from Pembroke Pines and a 23-year-old Georgia woman were the two people who died in last week’s plane crash at North Perry Airport, Pembroke Pines Police said Monday.
Killed in Friday’s crash were Felipe Becerra Cardenas, of Pembroke Pines, and Shelby Thomas, of Port Wentworth, Ga., police said.
Federal Aviation Administration records show Becerra Cardenas earned his commercial pilot certificate in June 2020 and his flight instructor certificate in December 2022.
Jamal Hall, 25, also from Georgia, was identified as the sole survivor of the crash. After being hospitalized in critical condition, he still was receiving medical treatment Monday, according to Pembroke Pines Police.
Hall, a passenger who was in the back seat of the plane, was taken to Memorial Regional Hospital after Friday’s crash. Becerra Cardenas was flying the plane when he died in the crash, and seated beside him was Thomas, who died shortly after in the hospital, officials said Saturday.
The Cessna 172 single-engine plane has been moved from North Perry Airport to a secured facility in Fort Pierce that specializes in accident recovery and storage, Aaron McCarter, an air safety investigator for the National Transportation Safety Board, said Monday.
The Cessna 172 single-engine plane had taken off from the airport about noon Friday, reaching an altitude of 100 feet, before it nosedived into the ground, officials said.
The registered owner of the plane is Aeroflyin Corp. The company has yet to respond to the South Florida Sun Sentinel’s requests for comment.
Sun Sentinel staff writer Angie DiMichele contributed to this report.
