CLEARWATER, Fla. — Clearwater City Council unanimously approved a grant agreement for the design and construction of a rotating beacon at Clearwater Airpark.
City Council approved $110,000 in grant funds during a meeting on Thursday, Feb. 20.
The agreement is between the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT), the City of Clearwater, and FlyUSA, the airpark's manager.
The move comes after a small plane crashed into a mobile home in Clearwater in February 2024. The crash killed the pilot, Jemin Patel, and two people inside a mobile home, Martha Parry and Mary Ellen Pender.
Martha's family, who lives in New York, spoke to ABC Action News on Zoom.
"The loss is tragic, obviously, and the way she went is devastating, honestly. I think as far as our family goes, we're trying to pull together, and we're all trying to keep her spirit alive," said Greg Miller.
Martha had three children, 11 grandchildren and one great-grandchild.
"We were shocked. We never expected that phone call," said her daughter, Kathryn Miller.
"Airplane falls from the sky," added Greg.
"She was having a regular day. She was having fun, had people over, who would ever expect that," said Kathryn.
According to an NTSB preliminary report released last year, the pilot was scheduled to land at Clearwater Airpark. He could not see the airport and asked them to turn on the runway lights, but the lights were on from another plane that landed. The pilot told air traffic control, "I'm losing engine."
"It’s not known if this proposed beacon would have helped in the unfortunate incident, the February crash. Over the interest of safety, I believe the installation of the beacon should be prioritized," said Roger Schulman, Clearwater Airpark Advisory board member, in a previous meeting last year.
Rotating beacons similar to the one at Peter O. Knight Airport on Davis Islands allow pilots to better see an airport at night.
Ron Simonton was a flight instructor and often flew into Clearwater Airpark. He said a beacon is an added safety feature.
"Use to do a lot of night flying as an instructor and just general aviation events and always found it very difficult to find the airport at night especially if you were coming in from certain directions," said Simonton.
"The rotating beacon on a clear night will have visibility of 10-15 miles or better on a clear night," he added.
FDOT will fund 80% of the project, while the City of Clearwater will cover the remaining 20%. According to city documents, FlyUSA agreed to reimburse the City for the City's 20%.
Martha's family wishes a beacon was already in place and believes it could have prevented last year's tragedy.
"We think that if they had that beacon, this accident could have been prevented," said Kathryn.
"We’d like to thank everybody down in Florida who had something to do with helping on that day, all the firemen, all her friends. We’d like to thank everybody for keeping her memory alive, and maybe this beacon will bring us a little solace and the Pender family and the Patel family, said Greg.
"Hopefully, it never happens to anybody else," said Kathryn.
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