MELBOURNE BEACH — The pilot killed late Thursday in the crash of his small plane into a Clearwater mobile home park split his time between Melbourne Beach and Indiana, where he owned a tech company.

Jemin Patel, 54, was killed Thursday evening when his single-engine Beechcraft Bonanza V35 crashed about an hour after taking off from Vero Beach Municipal Airport in clear weather just after 6 p.m.

The plane was owned by Control Data Inc., Patel’s Indianapolis-based company. He radioed an air traffic control tower that the plane was having engine failure, according to Clearwater public safety officials, before the plane slammed into a mobile home park in a fiery crash three miles from the nearest runway.

Two other people were killed on the ground, Martha Parry, 86, who lived at 2647 Pagoda Drive, the site where the plane crashed and burned. Also killed was Mary Ellen Pender, 54, of Treasure Island, according to the Pinellas-Pasco Medical Examiner’s Office.

“Our thoughts are with the three victims and their families; this tragedy could have been even worse,” said Police Chief Eric Gandy, whose agency reported that up to nine people had been in the location earlier before the plane struck.

Patel, a software developer, lived in Melbourne Beach with his wife Tammy and made multiple forays into business over the years. “We don’t have any comment at the present moment,” Tammy Patel told Florida Today on Sunday.

A search of FAA records show that Patel was certified in 2022 as a commercial pilot with a restriction to wear corrective lenses. He listed an Indianapolis address. The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the crash.

J.D. Gallop is a criminal justice/breaking news reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Gallop at 321-917-4641 or jgallop@floridatoday.com. Twitter: @JDGallop.

This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Melbourne Beach pilot split time between Florida, Indiana