The Publix in DeLand that was damaged when a small experimental airplane crashed into it April 2 will reopen, a company spokesman said Friday.
The interior of the 54,000-square-foot store, which is nearly 19 years old, will be repaired and remodeled, spokesman Dwaine Stevens said. The projected reopening is early in the third quarter of 2012.
Publix would not reveal the cost of the work, but city officials gave a preliminary damage estimate of between $800,000 and $1.2 million. There was no severe structural damage to the building, Stevens said.
The closest Publix to the damaged one is five miles south at Southpointe Commons Shopping Center, 2410 S. Woodland Blvd. in DeLand. A Publix pharmacy is open in a temporary storefront in Northgate Shopping Center, next to the damaged Publix.
The 175 employees at the damaged Publix have been reassigned to stores in DeLand, Deltona and Orange City, Stevens said.
The single-engine, amateur-built aircraft dropped out of the sky and through the roof of the store at 299 E. International Speedway Boulevard at 7:20 p.m., moments after taking off from DeLand Municipal Airport.
Five people were injured, including three shoppers. The two people aboard the plane, Kim Presbrey and Thomas Rhoades, who are from Illinois, were severely burned. Presbrey in January bought the Seawind 3000, which had not been flown in several years. He is a lawyer and a private pilot from Aurora, a city about 40 miles west of Chicago. Rhoades is a commercial pilot who lives in Bull Valley, about 40 miles north of Aurora.
The men had left Aurora Municipal Airport April 1 and were planning to get seaplane training at a school in Altamonte Springs, according to the National Transportation Safety Board. Relatives could not be reached to provide an update on their conditions, and Orlando Regional Medical Center would not disclose any information.
A preliminary NTSB report found the plane had made an unscheduled stop in DeLand because of a malfunctioning transponder. The pilot was flying to Daytona Beach International Airport to have the transponder fixed when he crashed.
The airplane stalled and sputtered before spinning downward, witnesses told investigators.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com
NTSB Identification: ERA12FA265
14 CFR Part 91: General Aviation
Accident occurred Monday, April 02, 2012 in Deland, FL
Aircraft: SAPP LARRY E SEAWIND 3000, registration: N514KT
Injuries: 3 Serious,2 Minor.
This is preliminary information, subject to change, and may contain errors. Any errors in this report will be corrected when the final report has been completed.
On April 2, 2012, about 1920 eastern daylight time, an experimental amateur-built Seawind 3000, N514KT, owned and operated by a private individual, was substantially damaged when it impacted a building shortly after takeoff from the Deland Municipal Airport (DED), Deland, Florida. The certificated private pilot owner and a commercial pilot in the airplane were seriously injured. One person inside the building was seriously injured, and two other individuals inside the building sustained minor injuries. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and no flight plan had been filed for the flight that was destined for the Daytona Beach International Airport (DAB), Daytona Beach, Florida. The personal flight was conducted under the provisions of Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91.
According to records obtained from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the amphibious airplane was issued an experimental airworthiness certificate in July 2002, and was purchased by the private pilot during January 2012.
According to witnesses and information obtained from the FAA, the pilot/owner and pilot-rated passenger flew from Aurora, Illinois, to DED on April 1, 2012, with a refueling stop in Tennessee, to begin training for a seaplane rating in Altamonte Springs, Florida, on the morning of the accident. The owner originally intended to land in Sanford, Florida; however, he elected to land at DED after the airplane's transponder malfunctioned while en route. The purpose of the accident flight was to fly to DAB to have the transponder replaced at a maintenance facility.
During a telephone conversation with an employee at the maintenance facility, the pilot/owner reported that he was new to the airplane, which he had purchased about 6 weeks earlier, after it had not been flown for about 3 years.
The airplane departed from runway 23, a 4,301-foot-long, asphalt runway.
A pilot at DED reported that he landed on runway 23, and while taxiing, observed the accident airplane depart. The airplane rotated about 500 feet prior to the end of the runway, and began a shallow climb, while mostly maintaining a high pitch angle. Shortly thereafter, he observed the airplane "stall" and enter a descending left spin, before it disappeared behind a tree line. He did not hear any communications from the accident airplane over the airport common traffic advisory frequency after the takeoff.
A witness, who was in a car that was parked outside the front entrance of a supermarket, reported that she heard two "sputtering" engine sounds. She then looked up and observed the airplane in a climb attitude, very low in the sky. The airplane turned left and immediately descended straight down, nose first.
The airplane descended into the roof of a supermarket, located about 1 mile from the departure end of the runway. The airplane penetrated the roof, and impacted shelving before coming to rest upright, on a heading of about 260 degrees.
A postcrash fire destroyed the cockpit and consumed a majority of the airframe, which was constructed of composite materials. The airplane was equipped with a tail-mounted Lycoming IO-540 series, 300-horsepower engine, with a three-bladed Hartzell constant-speed propeller assembly. One propeller blade was melted about 24-inches from the hub. A second blade was fractured about 17-inches from the hub, with its outboard section located in the debris. A third blade was intact. Two of the propeller blades had curled tips; however, all of the propeller blades were relatively straight, with no twisting damage. The engine, including all accessories sustained fire damage. Initial external examination of the engine did not reveal any catastrophic failures; however, the engine was retained for further examination.
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