The bodies of a man, a woman and a dog were recovered from Lake Thonotosassa.
By BRADY DENNIS
Published December 19, 2003
[Photo by Luis Santana]
Rescue workers with the Sheriff's Office search for survivors in Lake Thonotosassa. The bodies of a man, a woman and a dog were recovered. Although their identities were not released, officials say it is likely they were local residents.
THONOTOSASSA - The plane buzzed over his house and descended toward Lake Thonotosassa with its landing gear down. Jim Cooper knew something was wrong.
He has lived on the bank of this lake, surrounded by orange groves, for 35 years. He knows a seaplane doesn't land with its wheels down.
"I thought, "He's going to crash, sure as hell," Cooper said.
He was right.
The small seaplane hit the water just before 5 p.m. Thursday and flipped tail over nose. It sat submerged upside down, only its pontoons floating above water. Cooper told his wife to dial 911 and rushed to the dock in his back yard.
He cranked his pontoon boat and made it to the plane within minutes. But he didn't see anyone in the water, and he couldn't see down to the cockpit.
Cooper headed toward the south shore of the 819-acre lake and picked up the firefighters who were arriving. It was no use.
Rescuers eventually recovered the bodies of a woman, a dog and the pilot, who was described only as a man. Officials said they likely are local residents.
The man's body was recovered first and lay covered by a white sheet on a dock off Thonotosassa Road while deputies investigated the crash well into the evening.
Cooper said he had seen the plane land on the lake before but didn't know the pilot.
Thursday's crash broke the silence of this usually serene corner of northeast Hillsborough County. Neighbors walked to the lake's edge to peer out at helicopters overhead and sheriff's dive team members coming and going.
Rhonda Chase, 44, has lived near the lake all her life. She recalls men dragging the lake when drunken boaters fell overboard. She remembers a young boy who fell in among water moccasins.
But she doesn't ever recall a seaplane crashing into the water.
"It's not the kind of thing that happens very often here," she said.
Across the lake, darkness had fallen and Jim Cooper stood in the cold night tying up his boat. He shook his head as he talked about watching workers pull the pilot's body from the water.
"He was very young," Cooper said.
On the dock stood his old friend and bluegrass band partner, Tom Port.
"Any age is too young to die in an airplane crash," Port said.
