Officials released the final radio transmissions before a small plane crashed on the Haulover Inlet Bridge in Miami. NBC 6’s Willard Shepard reports
Police have identified the driver of an SUV that was hit by a small plane when it crashed on the Haulover Inlet Bridge in Miami over the weekend.
Aida Kazakova, 34, of Sunny Isles Beach, was behind the wheel of the maroon SUV when it was hit head-on by the single-engine Cessna 172 on the bridge Saturday afternoon, Miami-Dade Police officials said Monday.
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Haulover Inlet Bridge Plane Crash
Two children, ages 6 and 2, were in the SUV with Kazakova at the time of the crash, police said.
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All three were taken to a local hospital for evaluation but miraculously escaped without serious injuries, police said.
Federal Aviation Administration officials said three people were onboard the plane when it lost engine power and crashed on the bridge and erupted in flames.
After firefighters extinguished the flames they discovered the body of the pilot, 36-year-old Narciso Torres, in the wreckage of the plane. Torres was a veteran Miami air traffic controller.
The two other passengers who were on the plane were able to get out and were hospitalized. Their identities haven't been released.
Torres received his private pilot's license back in 2010. One person who owns the plane said he handed Torres the keys in the morning, and Torres flew from Homestead up to North Perry Airport and was only there for 20 minutes .
Torres then picked up his passengers and took off to the east. FAA officials said the plane was heading to Key West International Airport.
The cockpit recording captured Torres' final communications with air traffic before the tragedy.
"Zulu traffic ahead to your right about two miles opposite direction, a Bonanza 1,100 feet inbound to North Perry," the controller at North Perry's tower tells Torres.
"I’ll be looking 54z thank you," Torres responds.
The crash is being investigated by the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board.
