Miami-Opa Locka – St Petersburg

On October 16, 1969 at 08:35 AM, Miami-Opa Locka – St Petersburg experienced a crash involving Lockheed 18 LodeStar, operated by Johnston R. Staples, with the event recorded near Golden Gate Florida.

The flight was categorized as ferry and the reported phase was flight at a plain, valley crash site.

2 people were known to be on board, 0 fatalities were recorded, 2 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 0.0%.

Crew on board: 2, crew fatalities: 0, passengers on board: 0, passenger fatalities: 0, other fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is technical failure. The crew was completing a ferry flight from Miami-Opa Locka Airport to a maintenance facility based in St Petersburg. This was the first flight for maintenance. En route, smoke spread in the cockpit and the crew was forced to reduce his altitude and to attempt an emergency landing. The aircraft crash landed in flames in a prairie located in Golden Gate, northeast of Naples.

Aircraft reference details include registration N170L, MSN 2534, year of manufacture 1943.

Geospatial coordinates for this crash are approximately 26.1839°, -81.7031°.