Inset top: Mary Ellen Pender. Inset bottom: Martha Parry. Background: The wreckage from a plane crash on Feb. 1, 2024, in Clearwater, Florida (WTSP/YouTube).
The widower of one of two women killed when a plane crashed into a Florida mobile home park has filed a wrongful-death lawsuit.
Mary Ellen Pender, 54, and Martha Parry, 86, were killed when a Beechcraft Bonanza V35 crashed into Parry’s home at the Bayside Waters mobile home park in Clearwater, more than 20 miles west of Tampa, after 7 p.m. on Feb. 1. The pilot, Jemin Patel, 54, also died. The occupant of a second home suffered minor injuries.
The lawsuit was filed by Pender’s husband, Robert Dixon, against Patel’s estate and his company, Control Data, Inc. It alleges Patel and his company failed to “maintain and operate the airplane in a safe manner, thereby causing the crash.” It seeks more than $50,000 in damages.
“It’s completely torn him apart,” Dixon’s Attorney, Marc Matthews of Matthews Injury Law, told Tampa Fox affiliate WTVT. “Mary Ellen was his entire life. He spent every waking minute with her as much as he possibly could.”
“He was only able to identify her as being involved when a law enforcement officer showed him a piece of jewelry that she had at the time that he knew was hers,” the attorney added.
A preliminary report from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) described the crash. The flight departed at 6:09 p.m. from Vero Beach Municipal Airport. At one point, the pilot broadcast that he could not find the airport and asked for the runway lights to be turned on — even though they were already on.
After the pilot requested to turn the runway lights on again, the pilot-controlled runway lighting was changed to the highest intensity, the report said.
The pilot then announced he had a “fire” and told the controller, “I’m losing engine.” There were no further transmissions from the pilot. A pilot flying nearby reported seeing the airplane in a 30- to 40-degree “nose-low” descent he described as “like an uncontrolled descent.”
He added that while the airplane descended, he saw a “very bright light” dropping quickly to impact.
A passenger in a car reported seeing a round fireball with a white cone in the front portion while airborne before the impact. Videos from businesses captured “a light descending steeply with sounds associated with engine operation, followed by a fireball,” the NTSB report said.
In a news release, the Clearwater Police Department said up to nine people had been inside the mobile home shortly before the crash, but only two left the residence. Pender had been among the people visiting Parry’s home, Tampa Bay CBS affiliate WTSP reported.
One mobile home was heavily damaged and burned. Two other adjacent mobile homes had minor damage from heat and flames, officials said.
Pender had recently retired, her family told WTSP.
“It was a tragic loss. She was a young woman. She leaves a husband and me,” her mother, Mary Pender, told the outlet. “Her life was short, but she enjoyed it.”
Parry had three children, 11 grandchildren, and one great-grandchild, her daughter told the station. Her lawyer said he also planned to file a lawsuit after the NTSB finalizes its report, WTVT reported. An attorney representing Patel’s estate and Control Data, Inc. did not respond to a request for comment, the station reported.
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