A couple of off-airport accidents in Florida killed two people and injured three others. In the latest mishap, Jeffrey Bronken, the pilot of a Piper Archer, was killed after ending up on a street in Clearwater, Fla., on Saturday morning. Two teenage girls, Katherine Bronken and Keyana Linbo, were injured. All were from the Chicago area and on their way to St. Pete/Clearwater Airport. The aircraft came to rest on the median of a six-lane road but it’s not clear what circumstances preceded the crash. On Friday, a Cessna 400 ended up hitting the loading dock of a Lowes in Palatka, in northeast Florida.
The passenger aboard the piston single, Malcolm Clevenstine, 71, of Palm Coast, Fla., died later that day in the hospital and the pilot, Richard Carrara, 73, had minor injuries. Local media quoted the Florida Highway Patrol as saying Carrara told them he was trying to do a touch and go at Kay Larkin Airport, adjacent to the Lowes, when the engine quit. The aircraft went through a chain link fence before smashing through a stack of empty pallets on the loading dock. The flight originated in St. Augustine.
