Authorities release names of three killed when plane crashed into Florida mobile home park

CLEARWATER, Fla. (AP) — The names of two women who were killed when a small airplane crashed into a Florida mobile home park, and the identity of the pilot who died in the fiery accident, were released Saturday by officials in the city of Clearwater.

Martha Parry, 86, was a resident of a double-wide mobile home that was destroyed in Thursday night’s crash. A visitor to the home, 54-year-old Mary Ellen Pender of Treasure Island, also was killed, as was the plane’s pilot, Jemin Patel, 54, of Melbourne Beach.

Patel had reported engine failure on the single-engine Beechcraft Bonanza V35 shortly before crashing into the Bayside Waters mobile home park around 7 p.m. Thursday, the Federal Aviation Administration said.

The aircraft had taken off earlier in the day from Vero Beach.

The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the crash. The investigation will involve three primary areas — the pilot, the aircraft and the operating environment — and consider the flight track data, recordings of any air traffic control communications, the weather forecast and conditions at the time of the crash, witness statements and any surveillance video.

The Associated Press