On Monday afternoon, some 15 miles west of Miami-Opa Locka Executive Airport, a Cuban biplane from the Soviet period crashed into the Florida Everglades and sank to the bottom on the grassy shallow side of a canal.
According to FAA spokeswoman Tammy L. Jones, two people survived the accident that occurred at 1:30 p.m. in Florida’s Everglades National Park.
The Antonov AN-2 was labeled with the insignia of a Cuban government agency called Empresa Cubana de Servicios Aéreos (ENSA), which flies small cargo and agricultural planes.
The tail number of the jet revealed the plight of a Cuban emigrant. About three weeks ago, 29-year-old Santa Clara defector Rubén Martinez Machado flew the jet from Cuba to South Florida.
On Oct. 21, Martinez Machado landed the ENSA Antonov AN-2 at the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport. U.S. immigration officials still had him in detention as of Monday night.
On Monday, the incident was still being looked at by the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board.
