JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A local mother is thankful to be alive after she says it was a miracle she escaped her burning home after a plane crashed into it.
“All I could say was, I’m alive,” Susan Crockett told Action News.
Crockett fought off tears Saturday when she viewed the charred debris and destruction of the home she’s lived in for seven years.
A single-engine plane carrying a pilot and two passengers crashed into her Palm Coast home Friday afternoon. All three aboard the flight were killed upon impact.
Crockett stands with nothing more than a few bumps and bruises and a renewed faith in God. "He couldn't stop the plane but he could stop me because I was headed to that exact spot where the plane crashed. There’s no way anyone else should have got out of there.”
Crockett says the moment played out like a movie. “Flames, fire, I closed the door, got out of the room.”
Crockett went to escape out the back door but the intense fire stopped her. Desperate to flee from the flames, she jumped out a back window.
Officials with the National Transportation Safety Board continued removing the wreckage Saturday.
The chief investigator, Terry Duprie, told Action News they are focusing on recovering “perishable” evidence and electronics items such as iPads and laptops that may contain informative data about the moments leading up to the crash.
A handful of investigators took pictures and documented the condition of the plane’s engine and propeller in the front yard.
The nearby airport has offered to temporarily store the wreckage. The engine will soon be transported to Mobile, Alabama for further examination. "And that way we'll really get to tear the engine apart and look at the detailed components to see exactly what their condition is,” said Duprie.
The NTSB reports that the investigation could take up to a year. It plans on releasing an preliminary report in 10 days.
NTSB investigators have released the identities of the victims who were killed when a plane crashed into a Palm Coast home Friday afternoon.
Saturday afternoon, officials identified the three victims as 57-year-old Michael Anders, of Albany, KY, 59-year-old Duane Shaw, of Albany, KY and 42-year-old Charissee Peoples, of Indianapolis.
Anders, who was the pilot, was a high school teacher in Clinton County, KY. He taught Spanish at Clinton County High School, school officials said.
National Transportation Safety Board investigators have been out at the home since Saturday morning. Officials said they will look into several factors in hopes of determining what exactly caused the deadly crash.
"For the machine, we're going to look at aircraft records, maintenance, if there was any that was recently done. For the environment, weather conditions," said NTSB investigator Terry Duprie.
