A small plane made a crash landing in a field near an elementary school in Miramar.
A small plane crash landed near an elementary school in Miramar on Wednesday, narrowly missing portable classrooms and coming to a stop near a playground where children had been playing moments earlier, officials said.
The crash happened shortly after 1 p.m. near Coconut Palm Elementary School along Monarch Lakes Boulevard.
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WATCH HEREInvestigators said the pilot and his student were about 1,000 feet in the air when they experienced mechanical issues.
Miramar Fire Rescue officials said the plane crashed in a field behind the school. Officials said the pilot clipped a fences and was able to maneuver between two portable classrooms.
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"It appears that when they clipped the fence, it slightly altered their trajectory, which may have prevented a direct impact with the portable classrooms," Miramar Police Chief Delrish Moss said. "Had the trajectory not changed or had the plane continued on its course, this could have been catastrophic."
Aerial footage from Chopper 6 showed the plane on the ground just feet away from the playground.
Miramar Police said the aircraft was damaged but there were no injuries reported. The students who had been on the playground had gone inside just moments before the plane went down.
"Now, the miracle here is that, first, neither the pilot nor the student were hurt. But the most incredible thing is that the students who had been outside on the playground had just gone inside moments before. If they had still been outside, we’d be telling a very different story," Moss said. "This could’ve been catastrophic. Fortunately, no one was hurt and everyone walks away with lessons learned and no one harmed."
The school wasn't placed on lockdown and the incident wasn't impacting traffic in the area, officials said.
Parents received a message from the school shortly after the crash happened, though some said they didn't get the email and rushed to the school.
"Where did it land, that was my first thought. Did it land near the cafeteria? Did it land in the middle of the school? Did it land in the field near the playground?" said Luzmary Ocampo.
"The playground is right there. There were kids saying that they were playing on that same playground right before it happened so that’s also concerning because how do you protect your kid from that?" Adrienne Lester said.
Detectives from Miramar Police responded and the Federal Aviation Administration was expected to investigate the incident, officials said.
Check back with NBC6 for updates.
