An off-duty Fort Lauderdale firefighter and father of two died Sunday afternoon when the airboat he may have been racing in the Everglades made a 360-degree midair loop in front of other boaters, officials and witnesses said.
Investigators said the airboat may have been traveling at between 70 and 90 miles an hour. But others disputed that any racing occurred.
Jason Goode, 30, was described by friends and colleagues as an avid outdoorsman, hunter and fisherman who spent many days off in the swamp.
Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue Division Chief John Ramirez said Goode was not racing but had tried to drive a boat he was unfamiliar with.
''The family and friends that he was with said that he was just trying out the boat,'' Ramirez told The Herald.
But the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said the five-year firefighter was racing another boater when the air built up under his boat and lifted the front -- forcing the vessel into a loop that may have looked like an intentional stunt.
''These airboats are very, very light,'' said Jorge Pino, a spokesman for the Commission, the law-enforcement agency that regulates airboats.
``They are made out of aluminum and they are very, very short. So when you get these boats going 70, 80, 90 miles an hour, as it is estimated he was going, anything can happen.
``What happened in this particular case is wind actually got underneath the hull of the boat, causing the front end of the boat to start going up. It flipped once around, landing back upright. It did a complete 360. It did a loop.
``At some point during that flip, he got catapulted off the airboat.''
Some witnesses told state investigators that Goode, who lived in Davie, was struck by the boat at some point, Pino added. ``He did suffer massive head injuries.''
Miami-Dade Fire Rescue took him in a helicopter to Jackson Memorial Hospital's Ryder Trauma Center, where he was pronounced dead.
The accident occurred shortly before 4 p.m. about 21 miles west of Krome Avenue and eight to 10 miles north of Tamiami Trail, Pino said. The region is just northeast of Forty Mile Bend in the Frances S. Taylor Wildlife Management Area, which is about a mile from the Miccosukee Indian Tribe reservation.
A witness told a Herald reporter that there were scores of airboats in the area Sunday for races. Other witnesses said airboat races occur every few months.
Gary M was on a kayak Sunday in a group of 10 people rowing together when he noticed ''hundreds of airboats'' in a wide, open area watching a race.
''People gather and watch the races. People are always out there showing off,'' the Homestead man said. ``Every three or four months, they get together.''
''We were out goofing off,'' said Mike Wood, 46, another Homestead man who goes out on his airboat about once a month. ``But somebody made a mistake today. He should have known better.''
The victim, according to the witnesses and the state's Pino, was driving someone else's airboat when the accident occurred.
''According to witnesses, he is accustomed to riding airboats,'' Pino said. ``But this airboat is a smaller, softer, sleeker style of airboat. He was not accustomed to that style.''
The craft is a privately owned two-passenger airboat, a type more commonly used in races because it is smaller than multiple-passenger boats. But nobody else was aboard Goode's vessel, Pino said.
Generally, airboats are used for fishing or sightseeing -- not drag racing. But that would not be an illegal activity -- unless the boats are endangering other boaters or hurting the protected environment.
''There's no speed limit out there,'' Pino said. ``You can go 100 miles per hour if you want to go 100 miles per hour. It's just not a prudent thing to do.''
Witnesses told investigators that the boat was in a race with another boat, also driven by a man with no other riders, Pino told The Herald.
''Obviously, this is something that we're going to have to address. We have tried to deter this from happening,'' Pino said about enforcement stings that target people who are littering or operating vessels with disregard for others. ``It's hit or miss. You can spend all day out here and see people recreating without doing anything illegal.
``Unfortunately, according to all of the witnesses, they were drag racing today.''
Investigators have not, however, identified the other boater. The witnesses ''were willing to discuss the incident, but they weren't very forthcoming when it came to naming the second individual,'' Pino said.
Relatives and colleagues of Goode gathered at Jackson.
''He just loved the outdoors,'' said J.D. Rust, a friend from high school. ``He was always fishing and hunting, and he went airboating almost every weekend.''
They also said Goode, who was engaged to be married, had an 8-year-old daughter and a 4-year-old son.
Neighbors in Davie were stunned by the news.
''He was a very nice guy. I've known him since he was a kid,'' said Joseph Cosner, who lives in the house next door to Goode's. ``He was always very friendly. We're kind of shocked about the whole thing.''
Ramirez said Goode was a member of the department's hazardous materials team and worked at Station 88, which is just north of the Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport.
Pino said witnesses who may have left before investigators got to the scene should call 305-956-2500.
''We are looking for more witnesses to help us put a complete story together,'' he said.
``The bottom line is [that] people are addicted to speed, whether on a motorcycle, in a car, or in this case, an airboat. People just want to go fast. No matter how many times we advise them not to, they still do. Today, it cost someone his life.''
Herald staff writer Kevin Deutsch contributed to this report.
