Plane that crashed into tree in Florida carried 2 teens, 1 seriously injured, authorities say

Grethel Aguila and Isabel Rivera, Miami Herald on Jul 14, 2025

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MIAMI — The small plane that crashed in a Pembroke Pines suburban community Sunday night — hospitalizing two adults and two teens — was about to land after an almost four-hour flight originating in the Turks and Caicos in the Caribbean, flight records show.

At around 8:10 p.m., the aircraft, a Cessna T337G, was approaching North Perry Airport in Pembroke Pines when it hit a tree, plummeting onto a front lawn and debris mangled amid the tree limbs, according to the National Transportation Safety Board, which is handling the investigation. The cause of the crash is unknown.

The crash occurred near Southwest 14th Street and 68th Boulevard, just a mile east of the airport, police say. The crash left the plane’s four passengers hospitalized, including a teen with serious injuries. Video shows neighbors rushing to the site, dousing the flames with garden hoses. The plane left Ambergris Cay International Airport in the Turks and Caicos just after 4:30 p.m.

“It sounded like a dump truck dumping rocks and then a loud boom …” said 55-year-old Patricia Oliver, who has lived in the neighborhood for two decades. “It’s just a little bit too close for comfort.”

Robert Gonzalez, 54, said he was in his kitchen at the time of the crash and opened his back door to check on the noise. Gonzalez and several other residents said they’re concerned about the history of crashes in the area.

“You got a couple of [planes] that just fell out of the air in the surrounding area, like a radius of maybe two miles,” another resident who did not want to be named told the Herald. “It don’t make me feel too good because my house is right here.”

Previous crashes at North Perry

In a post on Facebook, Pembroke Pines Mayor Angelo Castillo said Sunday’s crash was one of three dozen related to North Perry Airport in the last five years. Castillo expressed his frustration with the airport’s safety record.

“Pines residents are demanding safety from this airport and I call upon Broward County to conduct a full, independent and thorough safety evaluation of North Perry,” Castillo said. “We support the aviation industry, but our patience has been tested for far too long. We want safety.”

Federal Aviation Administration flight records list the owner of the Cessna as Carlos Enrique Balza Cardenas of Weston. However, it’s unclear if Balza Cardenas was on board at the time of the crash. Officials haven’t identified the people on the plane.

Pembroke Pines Fire Rescue told the Herald Monday that a 16-year-old was labeled a “Level 1 Trauma,” indicative of potentially life-threatening injuries. The agency did not say whether the teen was a girl or boy.

Fire rescue said the other injured passengers — a 45 year old, 50 year old and 14 year old — were “Level Two Traumas,” which means stable vital signs when arriving at the hospital.

Video of the crash’s aftermath shows neighborhood residents rushing toward the wreckage. They tried to help the people trapped inside and sprayed water from a garden hose on the plane’s debris amid a large cloud of smoke. Tree branches were scattered around the wrecked plane.

On Monday morning, the plane’s debris was still scattered in the neighborhood.