As a single-engine Cessna began a tragic descent on May 14 near the Haulover Inlet Bridge, pilot Narciso Torres told his air traffic controller peers in Miami Approach Control: “Mayday-Mayday-Mayday ... 54Z, uh, lost engine power. ... I don’t know where I am going to put this down, but I’m going down right here.”
The plane dropped another 700 feet. Miami Approach told Torres the wind speed (3 knots), direction (180 degrees) and asked about his fuel and human payload. Torres said, “There’s three souls, there’s, um, a road right here ... a little bridge, I’m going to make that, 54Z.”
That’s from the National Transportation Safety Board’s preliminary report on the plane crash and fire that killed Torres, seriously injured two passengers and injured five people on the ground as the plane hit two cars on the Haulover bridge. The bridge is immediately north of Bal Harbour.
