
A small plane that crashed in a Boynton Beach neighborhood last month, killing the pilot, probably left Lantana Airport with almost no fuel, according to a preliminary report.
According to the National Transportation Safety Board’s initial report, which was posted Wednesday morning, the single-engine plane’s two fuel tanks, one on each wing, were both ruptured from the impact, but contained “no evidence of residual fuel.” In addition, the crash site had no smell of fuel and no browned grass.
Moreover, the valve that switches between tanks “was devoid of fuel,” as was the engine-driven fuel pump.
The March 6 crash of the two-seat Grumman American AA-5 killed 67-year-old John Pardillo, of Miami. His aircraft went into a backyard at Dos Lagos, a gated community near Congress Avenue and Miner Road.
The National Transportation Safety Board’s (NTSB) interim report states the two-seater was in the air for only 20 minutes.
The plane struck a 18-foot-tall palm tree, slicing it at about 5 feet up, before coming to a stop against a fence about 30 feet from the back wall of the home.
FAA records show the plane’s registration had expired on Sept. 30 of last year. The report said Pardillo, the pilot, held a valid certificate and had accumulated 350 hours of flying, with about 249 hours of that in single-engine planes.