Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
- A pilot assisted first responders in locating a plane crash site in Florida.
- Isaiah Akloo circled the crash site, communicating with air traffic control for 20 minutes.
- The crash, due to fuel exhaustion, left two occupants critically injured but alive.
KISSIMMEE, Fla. — A pilot who was preparing for takeoff at Kissimmee Gateway Airport helped guide first responders to the site of a plane crash Saturday afternoon after the small aircraft went down in a heavily wooded area.
Isaiah Akloo says he and his second-in-command circled above the crash site in their plane for about 20 minutes, communicating critical information to air traffic control as emergency crews worked to locate the downed aircraft.
"I was lining up for the departure of the runway, and I was approved for takeoff. And the second I applied my power, I got a call from tower immediately to abort the takeoff, that the plane went down that just went in front of us," Akloo said.
The crash happened at approximately 2:59 p.m. Saturday in a wooded area about a mile and a half southeast of a runway at the Kissimmee Gateway Airport, near West Clay Street and South John Young Parkway, according to the Kissimmee Fire Department.
The National Transportation Safety Board said the pilot reported fuel exhaustion, which the agency defines as "running out of fuel," moments before the crash of the Cessna 150, which was carrying two occupants.
Stephen Gonnella, a battalion chief with the Kissimmee Fire Department, says locating the aircraft was a challenge.
"Part of the issue that we had was we couldn't see the downed aircraft," Gonnella said.
Akloo, who currently serves in the United States Air Force Reserve, says he used his camera to zoom in on the crash site from above, looking for signs of life.
"All I just wanted to see was a movement so I can let the ATC know that, hey, they're alive and everything is going well," Akloo said.
He says his military training guided his decision to stay.
"Being in the United States Air Force as an airman, our goal was to ... never leave an airman behind. That's a policy that stood with me in that airplane. I'm not going to leave until first responders arrive on scene and someone helped these guys," Akloo said.
With the help of a helicopter from the Osceola County Sheriff's Office, the fire department was eventually able to locate the Cessna and rescue its occupants. Both were taken to the hospital in critical condition. Akloo says he was relieved to learn they survived.
"It was such a joy that came over me when I heard that they're alive. I felt that peace that, 'Hey, you know what? They're alive,'" Akloo said. "I'm just grateful that first responders got there on time, and we were able to communicate together."
The NTSB and the Federal Aviation Administration will investigate the incident and determine the cause of the crash.
