BOCA RATON, Fla. — The 911 calls from last week's fatal plane crash in Boca Raton that killed three people have been released.
The Cessna 310 went down at about 10:20 a.m. on Military Trail near Glades Road after departing the airport, according to the FAA. The plane took off from the Boca Raton Airport, heading for the Tallahassee Airport, and crashed 11 minutes later.
The crash killed Robert Stark, 81, of Boca Raton; Stephen Stark, 54, of Delray Beach and Brooke Stark, 17, also from Delray Beach.
LISTEN: Frantic 911 calls released by the Boca Raton Police Department
“Something just dropped from the sky!” exclaimed a caller.
“Oh my God, we saw it go down,” another caller said.
Searching for answers, WPTV reporter Michael Hoffman sat down with with Matthew Buckley, a graduate of the Navy’s elite TOPGUN aviation school. With more than four decades of military and commercial aviation experience, and CEO of the No Fallen Heroes Foundation, this incident hit closer to home for him.
Buckley's daughter was on a cheerleading team with Brooke Stark and their families have been close for 15 years.
“It’s absolutely devastating,” Buckley said. "All the girls are pretty torn up, very torn up.
Showing Buckley videos of the plane moments before the crash, Buckley said he thinks the plane had an issue with the rudder causing it to lose control.
“The aircraft is on the edge of being out of control,” said Buckley. “I'm beyond impressed that they stayed airborne for 11 minutes."
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Based on his experience, Buckley believes the issue pertains to the rudder.
"So when you zoom in and look at the rudder, it's fully deflected, just like in a boat," Buckley said. "If a rudder is hard over in one direction, that's the way the boat is going to go. Airplanes aren't designed to fly sideways like this, and it's flying sideways, and I can tell both of these guys have their hands full."
Buckley said both Robert and Steven Stark have decades of combined experience.
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The National Transportation Safety Board is still investigating the crash, looking to release its preliminary report in the coming weeks.
“What I see is two guys fighting in uncontrollable aircraft, and in my opinion, they're fighting to save Brooke,” Buckley said.
