This afternoon, a rogue plane crash in Jamaica began as a drawn-out, ghostly journey as a small plane flying from New York to Florida went off course. Initial reports were that the rogue plane had an unresponsive pilot and crashed in Jamaica, but were later clarified by Jamaican Defense Forces as being off the coast.
The pilot and passengers were not known in early reports and currently, their fate is also unknown. Breaking reports from the wire had the rogue plane taking off from the Greater Rochester International Airport in New York at 8:45 am EDT. The Blaze reported that from there, the Socata TBM700, a high-performance single-engine turboprop, last spoke with air traffic control at 10:00 am EDT before going radio silent.
The plane was set to fly to Naples, Florida, but the unresponsive pilot kept going and fighter jets were scrambled to escort and attempt to contact the pilot on the radio and via visual, but were unable to do so. After 1,400 miles of ghostly flying, the rogue plane crashed into the ocean north of the Caribbean island. Jamaican Defense Forces have sent an aircraft and recovery team to investigate, they say, but so far have no more information.
Registration for the rogue plane is, according to FAA records given to The Associated Press and published on KTVL News , for a company registered in Rochester. That firm is owned by developer Larry Glazer, whose biography says he is a pilot and CEO of Buckingham Properties.
Late-breaking coverage from ABC News have Coast Guard and other statements regarding F-15 fighter jets from North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) following the plane said that there were possibly three passengers aboard the rogue plane before its crash. The son of Larry Glazer, Ken, told ABC that his parents were both aboard the plane.
According to NORAD, the aircraft’s windows were fogged and the pilot was seen slumped over the controls, suggesting that those aboard were unconscious and the plane was flying of its own accord at about 25,000 feet. A scare of possible retaliation came when the rogue plane neared Cuba and officials say they communicated with Cuba, according to a tweet from ABC News , but the plane flew past without incident before its crash.
The U.S. Coast Guard has sent a C-130 to fly over looking for wreckage, officials there report. Jamaican search and rescue is also on the scene.
According to data from Flightradar.com , the rogue plane crash happened around 2:35 pm ET this afternoon when it left the site’s tracking north of the Island of Jamaica (photo above).
