- February 18, 2025
A private plane crashed in a densely wooded area in Flagler County near State Road 11 on Friday night, Feb. 14, killing the pilot, Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staly said.
The pilot was identified as Thomas Russell Harvey, 75, of Jacksonville, according to the Flagler County Sheriff's Office in a Monday, Feb. 17, press release.
The 2012 Cessna 208 Caravan flew out of Sebastian Municipal Airport and was headed to Palatka Municipal Airport, Staly said during a press conference on Feb. 15 near the site of the crash in the vicinity of State Road 11 near the Volusia County line.
The plane is a 10-seater, but the pilot was the only person on board the aircraft.
Staly extended his condolences to Harvey's friends and family.
The wreckage was discovered shortly after midnight on Feb. 15.
“It was pitch dark last night,” Staly said in the press conference. “There was no moon, a lot of cloud coverage. It was about the worst conditions you could imagine to try to find an aircraft. And how we found it was based on the general area … what Jacksonville authorities indicated on their radar. We started walking this area and noticed the smell of fuel that allowed us to have the Volusia helicopter pointed in a smaller area. And they spotted one of the tires.”
Staly said there was not much of a glide path.
“It was more of a straight down impact,” he said.
Staly said the aircraft had filled up with fuel at the Sebastian airport, and he speculated that the cause of the crash was either a mechanical issue or a medical issue.
He said the investigations by the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board will likely take months. The plane was destroyed and the debris field is “fairly significant,” Staly said.
“These smaller aircraft do not have a black box, so you have to look at the technology that's on the plane. I'm sure that the investigators will look at all the radar projections,” he said.
The investigation has been turned over to the NTSB, according to the Feb. 17 press release.
Staly said the plane took off from Sebastian at about 5:30 p.m. Air Traffic Control lost contact with the plane at 7:30 p.m., and the FCSO was notified at about 8 p.m.
The 2012 Cessna 208 Caravan is typically used for parachute jumps and was planned for skydiving trips in the upcoming week, Staly said. The plane was leased from Eagle Air Transport, he added.
Staly said the FCSO’s role in the investigation was to contain the site and photograph the evidence and turn it over to the federal investigators.
“Our emergency response team was activated to try to clear a path so we could get to the aircraft,” he said.
