Small Plane Crashes in Tampa Bay near TPF

[ready2fly]

Here's an early report:

A high-wing plane crashed in the murky waters south of Davis Islands, and rescue divers have found one body, who was reportedly the pilot.

It's not clear exactly what caused the plane to go down while reportedly on the way to Peter O. Knight Airport, though police say the engine had some sputtering problems. Tampa Police, the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office and the Coast Guard are on scene.

The pilot contacted Peter O. Knight Airport reporting backfire problems and requesting an emergency landing prior to the crash at about 11:30 a.m. Also, a witness at the Port of Tampa who saw the plane flying low called 911.

Police say the victim appeared to be a male in his 40s. It is unknown how many people were on the plane.
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I called the FBO and they don't know who the pilot was. He apprently was inbound to TPF when he had problems. I'll update you as I hear more.

 

[donttouchanything]

Prayers to the family.

 

[rv7]

I just caught the news for a second and heard them say that the plane was a Cardinal (177). Its always sad when something like this happens, thoughts and prayers are with the pilots family.

 

[ready2fly]

Here's more:

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<font color="blue">2 Killed When Small Plane Crashes Off Davis Islands

By VALERIE KALFRIN vkalfrin@tampatrib.com
Published: Apr 21, 2004

TAMPA - Two men from the Pompano Beach area died Tuesday after their single-engine Cessna crashed into a shipping channel roughly 300 yards short of a Peter O. Knight Airport runway.
The pilot, in his 40s, and a passenger, in his 20s, took off from Pompano Beach Air Park at 9:30 a.m. and were scheduled to land at Peter O. Knight at 11:30 a.m., Tampa police and aviation officials in Pompano Beach said.

Before the landing, they radioed the airport that the Cessna Cardinal 177 RG's engine was sputtering, Tampa police spokesman Joe Durkin said. The pilot requested clearance for an emergency landing.

Witnesses said the plane banked hard coming in, hit the water and sank about 16 feet in Seddon Channel between Port of Tampa and Davis Islands, Durkin said.

``I heard it and tried to help. I didn't get there in time,'' said Jim Hughes, visiting from Fort Wayne, Ind., who alerted rescuers to the crash site from his sailboat.

Officials at Pompano Beach Air Park identified the pilot as Lawrence Soojin Koh, 44, of Wilton Manors, a suburb of Fort Lauderdale. Tampa police would not confirm this or identify the passenger.

A person answering the phone at Koh's home Tuesday declined to comment.

The plane, which Federal Aviation Administration records show is registered to Jay S. Wehr of Pompano Beach, had been parked at Anthony Aviation Center, an aviation company at the air park. The aircraft was built in 1972. Wehr also declined to comment.

The pilot flew under visual flight rules, or clear weather conditions, without using air traffic control, said Kathleen Bergen, an FAA spokeswoman. He did not file a flight plan, which is not unusual for a small plane flying on a clear day, she said.

There is no air traffic tower at Peter O. Knight Airport. Tampa International Airport controls the airspace between Venice and Brooksville, which includes Peter O. Knight. The Cessna's pilot did not dial the tower at TIA, said TIA spokeswoman Brenda Geoghagan.

Divers recovered the pilot's body from the left front seat of the aircraft about 12:30 p.m., Durkin said. They found the aircraft's door partly open.

They recovered the passenger's body about 1:30 p.m., he said.

The crash closed one runway at Peter O. Knight Airport and the shipping channel, which leads to Hillsborough Bay, for several hours.

Tampa police salvaged the plane by floating it to the surface with inflatable lift bags about 5 p.m. From the Davis Islands boat ramp on Severn Avenue, a wrecker towed the aircraft to a hangar where National Transportation Safety Board investigators will examine it.

The NTSB has investigated six accidents involving Cessna 177s in Florida since 1999, one of them fatal, public records show. The agency has investigated 26 aircraft accidents in Hillsborough County during the past five years, seven of them fatalities involving small aircraft.

In August 2002, two Tampa men died in an RV-6A single- engine plane shortly after taking off from Peter O. Knight Airport, news reports show. The aircraft crashed into the concrete wall of a dry dock at Port of Tampa and burst into flames.

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