Pilot killed in Hollywood plane crash honored one year later – NBC 6 South Florida

It’s been just a year since pilot Mitchell Knaus was killed in a plane crash in Hollywood, and now friends are honoring his legacy.

On Friday, our best friend Daniel Healey spoke exclusively with NBC6 about how he is dealing with the pain of losing his buddy while also searching for answers.

“The way he died reflected the way he lived his life and he was a hero,” said Healey, who served in the Army with Knaus and was one of his closest friends.

May 17, 2023, was the last flight for the 28-year-old pilot. Something went wrong in the air, and as Knaus was piloting the banner plane away from a busy, populated area of ​​Hollywood, the plane crashed and burst into flames on North Park Road near a Target parking lot.

Friends of a pilot who died when his banner plane crashed on a Hollywood street are remembering the man as an avid aviator and a good person. Katherine Artiglio said she knew something was wrong when her normally reliable boyfriend Mitchell Knaus didn’t answer her text messages on Wednesday.

“Mitch was such a good guy. Everyone he ever met had nothing but good things to say about him. The fact that he put other people’s lives before his own is not surprising at all. The way he served in the military and the way he conducted himself as a friend was just top notch. Top notch,” Healey said.

The loss has also left a void in the life of Mitch’s mother, Krista Knaus, a retired Air Force broadcast journalist.

“He was just a good man. He was a good friend. He was a good son to his mother. He and his mother were very close,” Healey said.

To commemorate the anniversary of their son’s death, Knaus’ family and friends held a memorial service at the spot where he lost his life and filled the holes in the road with his ashes.

“It’s been hard for all of us. It’s been a struggle for our friends and our family alike to rebuild our lives without Mitch. And that’s difficult because he played such a crucial role in all of our lives. It’s been hard,” Healey said.

According to the preliminary report of the National Transportation Safety Board, Knaus left North Perry Airport in Pembroke Pines at around 12:25 p.m. to fly a banner along Fort Lauderdale Beach for about an hour and a half.

He was in a Piper PA-25-236 owned by Aerial Banners, Inc.

An investigation was launched into why a banner plane crashed in Hollywood and the pilot died.

He had started to climb and was about 180 meters in the air when the tower controller asked him if everything was OK because the plane was not climbing.

“Banner Zero Alpha Bravo, are you OK? You are descending rapidly,” asked the tower controller.

“I’m trying to, um… keep climbing,” Knaus replied, according to the report.

A few minutes later, Knaus reported that he was not feeling well: “Maybe I have to drop this banner. I’m not climbing.”

The report said a video showed the final seconds of the flight, with the plane in level flight at a low altitude, “approximately at roof level.”

“When the banner was released, the aircraft rolled and turned to the right before the wings straightened and the aircraft briefly descended vertically, nose up,” the report said. “The aircraft then rolled to the left and entered a steep, left-facing, nose down spiral descent and disappeared from camera view.”

According to the NTSB report, Knaus had a total of 324 hours of flight time, including about 15 hours in an aircraft like the one in which he crashed.

The report noted that the aircraft’s cockpit and instrument panel were “consumed by fire,” but said that examination of the engine “revealed no pre-impact mechanical abnormalities that would have prevented normal operation.”

A second Aerial Banners plane crashed just days after Knau’s death. The pilot of that plane survived but was hospitalized with serious injuries.

A new report describes the final moments before a banner plane fell from the sky and crashed on a Hollywood street, where it burst into a ball of fire, killing the pilot inside.

Healey said Knaus’ mother is still trying to understand what went wrong in her son’s case and wants more answers from the aircraft company.

“He was a hero. He saved lives and Mitchell’s mother will do everything in her power to get justice. His mother is a fighter. She is a warrior. She is seeking justice in this matter,” Healey said.

NBC6 has reached out to Aerial Banners, Inc. since the crash. On Friday, the company issued a statement.

“We continue to cooperate with the NTSB as it investigates the accident. We are not aware of any mechanical problems with the aircraft and we currently believe the cause of the accident was pilot error. Please direct any further questions to the NTSB,” the statement said.