Other plane crashes in Ocala International Airport’s history

File photo: A plane taxis in from the runway at Ocala International Airport on Monday, April 18, 2022. [Bruce Ackerman/Ocala Gazette] 2022.

After the June 8 plane crash at the Ocala International Airport, the “Ocala Gazette” looked into other instances of crashes and incidents at the airport.

On June 8, Ocala Fire Rescue responded to an incident at Ocala International after a pilot sent out a distress call saying that his plane had crashed. At the scene, OFR crews discovered an experimental aircraft with its tail elevated against a tree line just outside of the airport’s fence. The pilot was extricated from the plane and transported to a medical facility, according to OFR.

The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating the crash, and provided a preliminary accident report the same day.

The National Transportation and Safety Bureau has investigated seven incidents or accidents at the Ocala International Airport within the past 20 years, not including the most recent crash on June 8. The NTSB is a federal organization responsible for investigating every civil aviation accident in the country and significant accidents in other modes of transportation.

It has been 10 years since the NTSB investigated a plane crash at Ocala International. In 2014, the Helping Helen C Tango 2 aircraft crashed, destroying the aircraft and seriously injuring the pilot.

The pilot provided her account of the events to NTSB investigators from the hospital three weeks later. This crash is also the only incident on record in the past 20 years that resulted in injuries to the pilot or passengers.

“The (NTSB) determined the probable cause of this accident to be the pilot’s failure to maintain airplane control after the left cockpit canopy opened during takeoff for reasons that could not be determined due to fire damage,” according to the final crash report.

Local law enforcement can be called for assistance to the airport for several reasons, including for crashes such as the one on June 8, to which OFR, Marion County Fire Rescue and the Ocala Police Department all responded.

OFR has responded to 52 calls for assistance within the past three years. Of those calls dispatched, 12 of them were canceled before OFR arrived at the airport.

Many of the calls from 2021 until the present were in response to “aircraft standby,” where the fire department was called to the airport in advance when a difficult landing is expected.

“Aircraft emergency standby indicated that an inbound aircraft is reporting a defect, and a difficult landing may be expected. Emergency crews have been dispatched to pre-position at the airport in anticipation of the landing,” according to Pulse Point, an emergency response information organization.

Of the 40 OFR calls that were carried out, 11 were for aircraft standby, according to OFR dispatch records.

Other common reasons for assistance at the airport included calls for emergency medical services, assisting law enforcement agencies and responding to motor vehicle accidents, according to OFR.