Nov. 13, 2009
By Isaac Babcock
The Voice
An Oviedo Air Force Reservist is dead after the plane he was piloting crashed into the Everglades on Sunday night.
Edmundo "Ed" Velazquez was an aircraft mechanic at Homestead Air Reserve Base, where he had worked on planes as sophisticated as the F-16 fighter jet for more than 20 years. He had been deployed to the Middle East seven times during Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Family members of the 49-year-old Alafaya Woods resident said he was alone in his Aero Commander 100 when it plunged to the ground just north of I-75 in the swampy terrain at the north end of the Everglades. He had lifted off less than an hour earlier from Tamiami Airport in Kendall, en route to Ocala for refueling before traveling to a final destination in Georgia.
The longtime pilot had flown the same route many times before, and was known to maintain his airplane meticulously, leading to continuing speculation by authorities as to what could have caused the crash.
According to the National Transportation Safety Board, no distress calls had been received before the crash. Authorities are continuing to investigate the crash.
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