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TAMPA - Two sisters escaped unharmed from their small plane Sunday morning after it took a nose dive into the Seddon Channel.
The pilot, Camille Branch-Turley, 43, of 7103 Silvermill Drive, Tampa, reported experiencing problems just before takeoff around 8:25 a.m. at Peter O. Knight Airport on Davis Islands.
Branch-Turley said that as she came down the runway, the four-seater Arrow Commander didn't seem to have enough power to take off, said Tampa police spokeswoman Laura McElroy.
Branch-Turley tried to abort her takeoff, but instead the plane skidded and "made a nose dive" into the water, McElroy said.
She and her sister, Sharon Branch, 49, also of Tampa, climbed out of the plane before it sank, police said.
Taryn Tschetter, 28, of Tampa, was driving by and saw the accident.
"The natural thing is to see the plane take off," she said. "It's unnatural to see a plane fall in the water."
Tschetter asked a jogger with a cell phone to call 911 while she drove to alert airport officials.
She said by the time she and an airport official made it to the crash site, the Hillsborough sheriff's marine patrol was there.
While deputies helped Branch-Turley out of the plane, Tschetter helped her sister.
Tschetter said Branch didn't say much. "I don't think she knew what happened. Shock was settling in."
No one could be reached at Branch-Turley's Town 'N Country home Sunday evening.
Police said she had planned to go to Lakeland for breakfast with a pilots' club.
Sgt. Alan Draffin, of the Tampa police dive team, said Branch-Turley is a certified pilot who has logged 400 hours of flying time, with 200 of those in the Arrow.
Officials said the plane carried 50 gallons of fuel, but there was no environmental threat.
Draffin said that when the Federal Aviation Administration arrived to begin its investigation, a wrecker would retrieve the plane.