Two people that were aboard a small plane were killed when the amateur built aircraft crashed on Sunday night in Summerfield, Florida. Some investigators said that the plane was a Vans RV-7 and that it went down at the Monroe Airport around 7:15 PM Sunday night. The Fire officials of Marion County said that the finale of the low-budget zombie movie was being filmed at that scene and that a lot of extras were nearby at the time that the crash happened.
A neighbor said that the accident could have been a lot worse if the airplane would have fallen over where all those people were and it could’ve been very tragic. Officials say that the passenger was a 70-year old person named Joseph Sardinas, of The Villages and he was filming the pilot, a 65-year old named Dennis Monroe of Summerfield, during the flight.
One person said that she heard the neighbor’s plane circling long over a 20-acre field for about an hour right before she heard the engine shut off. The witnesses said that as the plane banked over the movie shoot site the engine then stalled and the plane crashed nose first. Some neighbors said that the people that died were very nice neighbors that had lived there for years, and that he had built the plane and he would fly it on a regular. Monroe was the Belleview Public Works Director for 26 years.
The crash is being investigated by the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board. The officials are saying that a report will be released on the crash in about nine to twelve months because it takes some time for a full investigation. This was a very sad situation especially considering that they were just filming a low budget film and trying to have some fun and they died tragically.