Small Plane Plows Into Car on I‑95 in Cocoa — What We Know Now and What Comes Next

Crash on I‑95: the immediate facts and the lawyer’s first words

A small aircraft crashed onto Interstate 95 in Cocoa, Florida, striking at least one vehicle and causing multiple people to need medical attention. Local officials described the scene as chaotic: emergency crews worked to free trapped people, traffic was shut down for hours, and nearby hospitals took several patients with serious injuries. Reports from the scene suggest there was at least one fatality, though officials have not released a final toll.

Within hours, attorney Jason Matzus went public, warning that federal investigators would take over the technical probe and urging families to keep records and preserve evidence. In a prepared statement, Matzus said the crash raised urgent questions about how the plane came to be so close to a busy highway and whether maintenance, pilot error or mechanical failure played a role. He offered his firm’s services to relatives, saying they would need help navigating a long investigation and any future legal claims.

How the NTSB investigates — what to expect and how long it usually takes

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is the federal agency that leads investigations of civil aviation accidents. Their goal is to find the sequence of events that led to the crash and recommend ways to prevent similar accidents — not to assign criminal blame. In practical terms the agency moves in predictable steps.

First responders secure the scene while local authorities handle rescue and short-term cleanup. The NTSB will then send a go-team to document the wreckage, gather perishable evidence, and begin a careful catalog of everything at the site: aircraft parts, vehicle debris, witness interviews, ground marks and anything that could show how the collision happened. If the plane has on-board recording devices, those will become a priority; for many small planes, recordings are limited or absent, which makes physical evidence and eyewitness testimony more important.

The agency also collects maintenance logs, pilot records, air-traffic communications and weather data. It will often consult independent labs to test components such as engines, fuel, and avionics. The NTSB usually issues a brief preliminary report within about 30 days that summarizes known facts. A full, final report — including a probable cause and safety recommendations — often takes a year or more. Families can expect periodic public updates, but the technical work keeps going long after headlines fade.

Legal pathways families often consider, and what typically follows

When a plane hits a car on a public highway, the available legal claims can cross several areas of law. Families commonly look at wrongful-death or personal-injury claims against the aircraft operator or pilot, claims against maintenance firms if work was faulty, and product-liability suits if a part failed. Liability can also involve companies that leased the plane, flight schools, or even parts manufacturers, depending on what investigators find.

Attorney Jason Matzus has highlighted the usual focus points in such cases: a careful review of maintenance logs and pilot training, preserving any physical evidence, and tracking communications around the flight. Procedurally, plaintiffs will often request documents from the operator, hire aviation experts to recreate the flight, and push for discovery of maintenance and compliance records. In many cases, insurance companies move quickly to contain liability, and family lawyers begin settlement talks once liability looks clear in the evidence.

Deadlines matter. In Florida, wrongful-death claims are subject to a statute of limitations that typically runs on a firm timetable. That framework often pushes families to act within months, not years, even as the technical NTSB inquiry continues. Matzus’s public remarks emphasized swift action to preserve legal options, while acknowledging the lengthy timeline of the federal probe.

Jason Matzus: why his voice is in the story

Jason Matzus is a plaintiff attorney who has built a practice around serious-accident cases, including aviation incidents. His firm frequently appears early in public-facing cases where families seek both answers and compensation. That background helps explain why he was among the first to speak: seasoned plaintiff lawyers often move quickly to advise relatives and to note the likely legal paths ahead when a high-profile crash occurs.

Past cases with similar fact patterns — collisions involving small aircraft near populated areas — show how complex liability can be and why families often need lawyers with aviation experience. Matzus’s involvement signals that families will likely see both an intense factual hunt by investigators and prompt legal activity.

Local impact and where the community goes from here

The crash snarled traffic on a major commuter artery and left residents shaken. Businesses along the corridor reported closed doors during the emergency response, and local schools and employers adjusted schedules while roads were cleared. Community leaders have called for calm and for clear information from authorities as the facts come in.

Beyond immediate disruption, the accident raises practical safety questions for Cocoa and nearby areas: how close small planes fly to highways, local procedures for emergency response, and whether more can be done to protect motorists beneath flight paths. Local victim-assistance programs, hospitals and county services will likely be involved as families cope with the fallout. Meanwhile, the FAA and NTSB will coordinate their technical work while local prosecutors review whether any criminal charges are appropriate — a separate thread from the civil claims Matzus described.

The coming days and weeks will bring more clarity: the NTSB’s initial findings, official lists of victims and a clearer picture of who might be held responsible. Until then, the story will be one of two parallel tracks — a long, methodical technical investigation and a quicker-moving legal response that starts as soon as families seek help.

Photo: Arian Fernandez / Pexels

Sources

• prnewswire.com