This guy was a friend of a friend - he was a Bull Gator, the FL equivalent of a Red Elephant. He and wife, son, and another adult friend were killed in plane crash on way home after the TN game. They leave behind a 9 year old daughter who did not make the trip. God bless that child.
FLORIDA EVERGLADES - Friends of a Fort Lauderdale money manager, pilot and major University of Florida sports booster are trying to come to grips today with the likelihood that he crashed in a plane in a remote area of western Broward County with his wife and teenage son.
Bruce Barber, 46, his wife, Karen, and their son, Payton, 14, had spent the weekend at the Magnolia Plantation Bed and Breakfast in Gainesville, where they attended the Tennessee-Florida football game, said innkeeper Joe Montalto.
The family left for the airport Sunday afternoon, shortly after lunch.
At 6 p.m. Sunday, the Broward Sheriff's Office got a report of a small plane crash west of U.S. 27. Aerial views of the wreckage show a white fusilage painted with orange and blue stripes, the same color scheme Barber used on his single-engine plane.
The Broward Sheriff's Office, while not releasing any identities, said today rescuers have found one body in the Everglades, where the plane crashed.
The body has not been recovered, said Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Keyla Concepcion. She did not know if it had been identified.
No other bodies had been found by noon, despite reports that four people may have been onboard, Concepcion said.
According to the Federal Aviation Administration's website, the single engine Piper Turbo Saratoga belongs to Bull Gator Air Inc. in Sea Ranch Lakes. The company is registered to Barber, of Sea Ranch Lakes, who also is a private pilot.
"Based on the [plane's] registration, who else would it be?" Montalto said. "We'd love to believe they are safe. But if they were safe, we'd have heard about it already."
Barber had also been in Gainesville for a Gov. Charlie Crist fundraiser, said Sergio Daniel Ponce, a Miami attorney who is a University of Florida trustee.
The Barbers' 9-year-old daughter did not come with the family because she was staying home for a slumber party, said Montalto.
Ponce said the girl's grandparents have been called to take care of her.
Ponce said a family friend was also onboard, but that could not be confirmed.
Montalto said that Barber was a pilot who put safety first.
"He was very careful and if there was any weather problem, he'd always delay his flight and was very conscious about weather conditions," he said.
Montalto called his friend "passionate" about the University of Florida sports teams, but said that the football program was his biggest interest.
The plane's pilot reported engine trouble before going down about 1-1/2 miles west of U.S. 27, the FAA said today.
"He had issued a mayday and reported he was having engine problems," FAA spokeswoman Arlene Salac said.
Four people were believed to be on board the aircraft that had left Gainesville, based on information that an aircraft service company at the airport gave to investigators, Salac said.
However, the number of persons on board remains unconfirmed and their identities have yet to be released.
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