Small Planes Collide; Pilots Killed--Four fatal mid-air collision this year in Florida

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Sep 11, 2000 - 06:51 PM

Small Planes Collide; Pilots Killed--Four fatal mid-air collision this year in Florida

By Karin Meadows

Associated Press Writer

FORT PIERCE, Fla. (AP) - Two small planes collided Monday and crashed into a citrus grove, killing both pilots.

The collision between the twin-engine Piper Aztec and a single-engine Piper Cherokee took place about three miles west of St. Lucie International Airport.

Glenn Gollnick, a tennis pro at nearby Panther Woods Country Club, said he heard a loud bang and saw one of the planes fall to earth.

"I saw something 100 to 200 feet above the trees come straight down," he said. "It looked like a mass of metal."

Gollnick, 52, said he drove a quarter-mile to the crash site and saw one plane had landed upside down while the other lay in pieces about 100 feet away.

"I was yelling and screaming, 'Is anybody in there? Are you OK?'" Gollnick said. "There was no response."

The Cherokee was registered to Flight Safety International, a Florida flying school.

Authorities identified the pilot of the Aztec as Roger Boromei, 31, of Maineville, Ohio. Sheriff's spokesman Mark Weinberg said authorities did not know the name of the other pilot.

National Transportation Safety Board officials said both pilots had been in contact with the airport's control tower before the collision. NTSB investigators were en route to the crash site 115 miles north of Miami.

The crash was at least the fourth fatal collision between small airplanes in Florida this year.

http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGITQEIQ0DC.html

-- Carl Jenkins (Somewherepress@aol.com), September 11, 2000


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