2 DIE after airplane CRASHES into wooded area near St. Augustine Airport!

01:17 Unfortunately, the pilot was unable to ready to roll again... RIP... Kudos to the controller and the police helo pilot.

I fly out of this airport every day, and this controller is the nicest controller I’ve ever had the honor of meeting. He always goes above and beyond.

I hope that controller is recognized in his community for the outstanding work that he did. It’s very impressive to hear a professional manage us hugely stressful situation as clearly and calmly as this man did. Terrible tragedy, but the community did everything they did to find these poor folks. Unfortunately it was not going to help this time.

I also would like to commend the ATC, Police Helicopter pilot , medevac pilot and first responders for the quick and decisive actions and professionalism. This was my brothers plane and he was the pilot. He had just picked the plane up in North Carolina the day before, and he and his best friend were on their way down to homestead to visit with my family down here. We are dealing with the aftermath as is his children, his friends family and other family members. Life is precious and we don’t take it for granted.

The Controller is a consummate professional. To handle the traffic and coordinating search and rescue efforts is absolutely amazing. My heart goes out to all involved in this sad situation.

It was affirming to listen to the entire audio, witnessing how professional everyone was. Thank you.

As a retired controller, that tower operator did an outstanding job of maintaining control in a professional manner. As a retired corporate pilot & flight instructor, with about 1,000 hours of Mooney time, I can imagine the distraction created by that open baggage door flapping and banging. HOWEVER, it wouldn't adversely affect the ability to fly and land safely. Another commenter made mention of the laminar flow wing on the Mooney, and he's correct about low and slow and tight turns. That said, had the pilot flown a normal pattern at the correct airspeed, he would have landed safely.....

This controller is amazing. What a gentleman in such a difficult situation.

The audio had me respecting the job air traffic controllers do even more. Talk about multi-tasking!

Pilot didn’t say which door. Passenger door is not big deal, however Luggage Compartment door in Mooneys is an emergency. Mooneys don’t fly well with LC doors open, and also run the danger of the door separating and hitting the horizontal stabilizer. The LC door is locked with a latch and a key locks the latch in place for further redundancy. I owned a M20J, I added “LC door and latch locked” in my preflight chklst.

With such a sad situation, the communication was incredible. The controller was outstanding.

I flew with my door unlatched once and it opened I looked to my left and said “OH SH*T” and my instructor said “do you feel like you’re about to fall out?” I said “no” and he said “then we’re alright”

The frustrating part of this is that an open door is a non event. Forget the door and fly the plane first. Condolences to the family.

I had a Mooney 20C, This aircraft has a laminar flow wing.. you cannot pull tight turns at slow speed. An open door is NOT a safety issue!!

St Augustine airport was not presenting a high density traffic situation. It was night 2's preference to remain on scene to direct foot traffic, and did so. The controller had made it clear to night 2 that they could just say the word and get immediate landing clearance to re-fuel. The police helicopter, night 2, coordinated safely, and effectively, with the controller who was then able to to handle inbound traffic as well. That professional sequence displayed an incredible synergy.

"No medical need." What a sad summery.

I'm a recently retired Airline Pilot with over 40 years of service & I'm an owner of Multiple G.A. Aircraft. In my experience, I believe that this Pilot simply became so distracted by The Opened Baggage Compartment Door that He lost his Situational Awareness & let His Aircraft become too slow & went into a Stall/Spin Situation. Unfortunately, being on Final he would have been too low to even attempt any Stall Recovery. My heart goes out to The Family & Friends of The Men that perished in this crash! I'm sincerely sorry for their loss! May G-d Comfort them in this difficult time!

RIP crew. This is what being a ATC is really about. Managing regular and emergency traffic together. Great job in that respect, nothing that could have been done better I think

That controller is absolutely fantastic! He did an amazing job managing this whole tragic situation and kept everyone else safe.

He was probably so worried about the door that he forgot to fly the plane. Aviate, navigate, communicate. Very sad.