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Plane Hits Florida Homes, Killing Five

By TRAVIS REED,
AP
Posted: 2007-07-11 05:28:46
Filed Under: Nation News
SANFORD, Fla. (July 11) - First year law student Janise Joseph-Woodard was supposed to be sitting in her criminal law class. Instead, there was an empty seat when her class met Tuesday night. Florida A&M College professors had to console her classmates after a small plane plowed into her home, killing Joseph-Woodard, 24, her 6-month-old son and three others.

Photo Gallery: Small Plane Crash

Roberto Gonzalez, Orlando Sentinel / AP

Firefighters work on the scene of a small plane crash in a Sanford, Fla., neighborhood Tuesday. The crash gutted two homes and killed at least two people on the plane and three people on the ground.

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"Janise balanced law school, a family and a healthy marriage. And she did it well," classmate Nikeisha Ford said of the mother of two.

The twin-engine Cessna crashed into a suburban Orlando subdivision Tuesday morning, spilling aviation fuel that ignited and gutted the two homes it struck.

The victims included two aboard the plane: 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.

Also killed was a 4-year-old girl, Gabriela Dechat, who lived in a home beside Joseph-Woodard. Her parents, Milagros Dechat, 33, and Peter Dechat, 36, were seriously injured.

A 10-year-old boy who was also in that home was transported to Cincinnati Burn Center with burns over 80 percent to 90 percent of his body, authorities said. His name has not been released.

The National Transportation Safety Board will focus its investigation on "man, machine and the environment," NTSB vice chairman Robert Sumwalt said.

"We'll be reviewing the aircraft maintenance records and any other records associated with this airplane," he said.

The investigation will also focus on any services the plane may have received before or during the flight, including fueling and maintenance.

The plane was traveling from Daytona Beach to Lakeland Tuesday when the pilot declared there was smoke in the cockpit. It was not clear who was flying the plane; NASCAR said it was Kennedy, but investigators said earlier it was Klemm.

The pilot was directed to land at the Sanford Airport but air traffic control lost radar contact. Authorities permitted it to land at any runway, Sumwalt said.

At the crash site, rescue crews arrived to a "heavy, dark column of smoke" worsened by the airplane fuel. "The plane's in numerous pieces throughout the five or six homes' backyard," said Matt Minnetto, an investigator with the Sanford Fire Department.

Eric Domnitz, who lives down the street, hurried with a fire extinguisher when he heard a woman scream. He said he discovered a horrific scene.

"It's in my head. The woman was just melting. It looked like her skin was just melting off," he said. "The guy, he was melting. He looked like wax."

The plane was registered to Competitor Liaison Bureau Inc. of Daytona Beach. Online records from the Department of State Division of Corporations show the company is registered under the name of William C. France, the NASCAR chairman who died last month at age 74 at his Daytona Beach home.

"Our deepest sympathies and prayers are with all of those who were involved in this tragic accident and their families," NASCAR said in a statement.

Lesa France Kennedy, whose husband died in the plane crash, is France's daughter. International Speedway Corp., of which she is president, owns or operates 13 of the nation's major motorsports facilities.

Gov. Charlie Crist said Bruce Kennedy was a great friend. "When I went to the Homestead race, he was kind enough to take me around to meet the drivers. He was gracious beyond words," Crist told The Daytona Beach News-Journal.

Associated Press writers Sarah Larimer, Lisa Orkin Emmanuel, Adrian Sainz, Rasha Madkour and Kelli Kennedy in Miami and Ron Word in Daytona Beach contributed to this report.

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.
2007-07-10 09:50:47
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1724 comments

adeas1132 01:34:23 PM Jul 12 2007

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If you are after the "shock factor" it's not working. All you are getting is the "hate factor" from people like me that are TIRED TO DEATH of being subjected to people like you on every single board that we go into to read about real issues! ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!

adeas1132 01:32:12 PM Jul 12 2007

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My sincere condolences to ALL of the families involved in this tragedy. To those of you posting the hateful, hurtful things, you know who you are, may God be with you too.

adeas1132 01:24:49 PM Jul 12 2007

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Why are some able to post whatever they want to say, but my comment can't be successfully saved at this time??

adeas1132 01:09:34 PM Jul 12 2007

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Now it's just taking the comments, but not posting them .....

adeas1132 12:53:09 PM Jul 12 2007

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why am I not able to post comments on this board??

signsplus2 12:34:23 PM Jul 12 2007

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Condolences to all of the families involved in this tragedy!

lafollette29 12:07:47 AM Jul 12 2007

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Remember those who have perished and those who are hurting. Please pray for the families left behind, from this tragic accident. God bless each and everyone one of you, families, freinds and neighbors. As for anyone saying anything other than extending heartfelt sympathy, you will held accountable for your idle words.

jetpilotzwife 11:57:00 PM Jul 11 2007

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To pughalma----"crookin"(?) if that's yer idear o' English, then we here yanks don't want yall teachin us yer suthern ways. Which version of the dictionary do you use? Is it Merriam Webster's or Igno Ramo's? ------signed, typical Northern idiot

jetpilotzwife 11:22:00 PM Jul 11 2007

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Hey trinagurl26, you hide behind your "computer anonymity" now, bet you wouldn't be so brazen to actually post your REAL e-mail address and tell us who you REALLY are!

mercurylike 11:05:40 PM Jul 11 2007

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Subj: In Deo Speramus mean In God We Hope - not In God We Trust
Date: 7/11/07 10:59:37 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time
From: Mercurylike
To: monroe_superior@courts.state.ny.us

Subj: Hell 101
Date: 7/9/07 6:46:42 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time
From: Mercurylike
To: monroe_superior@courts.state.ny.us

Dear friends-

I hope all is well. I just about never watch the idiot box called a TV I am going to make an exception on Friday the 13th, of this month of June 2007. 20/20 is going to have a report on Hell. Considering that I am a Roman Catholic, I have to check it out, just out of curiosity. I strongly recommend that where ever you are that you watch it. Knowledge is power. My guess is that this 20/20 episode viewer ship will blow away any other in the History of television. The Pope announced that masses will be said in Latin. I think that this some thing that was long over due. I have not gone to mass since 1975, when I graduated at Saint Monica's on Genesee Street. I had

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