Three people were aboard a Cessna plane that crashed at North Perry Airport on Friday afternoon, and NBC6 has now confirmed the identity of two of the victims.
31-year-old Felipe Becerra, who is originally from Mexico, was a commercial pilot and certified flight instructor.
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Esteban Saltos, the owner of ICARO Learn 2 Fly School, says Becerra and two others were on a Discovery flight, which is an introductory flight for a person who would like to begin the pilot process.
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Saltos added that he was unsure of the sole survivor's identity, but said a female student, now identified as 23-year-old Shelby Thomas of Port Wentworth, Georgia, was the other victim who died.
Becerra and Saltos were also friends -- but Saltos says he feels as though he's lost a family member.
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"As pilots, we know there is always a risk," says Saltos. "But, we minimize the risk because the passion is much greater than the risk."
The passenger who survived remains in critical condition.
"According to credible witnesses, it commenced the takeoff role. It took off, then went to a very high angle of attack, crested angle of attack at the top, did a nose down attitude -- followed promptly by a left turn and impacted the ground between the runways," said an NTSB spokesperson. "There was no post crash fire, but of course it was destroyed and resulted in the fatal loss of the two on board and the injured."
Investigators have reportedly taken the airplane parts to Fort Pierce, where they will evaluate several factors to determine the cause of the crash.
The preliminary report can take about a week to process.
