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Airplane crashes into bay, killing 3

The pilot and his parents die as a single-engine Cessna misses a runway at the St. Petersburg-Clearwater airport and sinks.

By SHERRI DAY and STEPHANIE GARRY, Times Staff Writers
Published January 13, 2008

Rescue vehicles gather at the end of a runway at St. Petersburg-Clearwater International Airport on Saturday after a plane crash.
	[Lara Cerri | Times]

ADVERTISEMENT Airport director Noah Lagos says the plane appeared to fall short of the runway. Joseph Bellamy, 31,was a computer network engineer who had worked for Raymond James and Associates. [Handout] [www.pinellaspilots.org] This is the plane that crashed. The single-engine plane, a Cessna Skyhawk 172, is registered to the Pinellas Pilots Association, a group created to help defray the costs of owning or renting a plane.

CLEARWATER - Before his plane plunged into Old Tampa Bay Saturday, Joseph Bellamy gave no sign that anything was wrong on a flight that, like many others, he took with his parents.

Bellamy, 31, of Pinellas Park, was piloting a Cessna Skyhawk 172 with his parents, Gordon D. Bellamy, 55, and Susan C. Bellamy, 53, of Palatka, on board.

All three died when the plane crashed at 3:39 p.m. about 100 yards short of the runway at St. Petersburg-Clearwater International Airport.

Gordon Bellamy's sister-in-law, Jeannette Bellamy, said the couple often visited Joseph Bellamy, who was not married, to go for rides in the Cessna.

"Gordon has enjoyed it," she said. "He loved to fly with his son."

The crash came as a shock to the family in Palatka, where Gordon Bellamy and his brothers owned a plumbing business, and to airport officials who heard no distress call before the tower spotted the plane dive into the bay near Runway 22.

"It apparently fell short of that runway," airport director Noah Lagos said.

From a crane, Lagos saw the plane submerged in shallow water, the silhouette of its wings rocking.

"The plane, at the time that I viewed it, was totally underwater," Lagos said.

The single-engine plane is registered to the Pinellas Pilots Association, a group created to help defray the costs of owning or renting a plane.

The plane had been checked out for a trip to Palatka and had been reserved from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., airport officials said. Joseph Bellamy was flying under visual flight rules, which do not require pilots to file a formal flight plan.

That's common for small planes, which fly close to the ground and rely less on instruments than commercial airliners, Lagos said.

Before air traffic controllers saw the plane dive into the water, communication with the Cessna had been normal, Lagos said.

Controllers had given Bellamy instructions to land, and he did not make a distress call or give any indication that there was a mechanical problem with the plane, Pinellas County government spokesman Tom Iovino said.

Inspectors from the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board are expected to begin an investigation this morning.

Local officials said they did not know what might have caused the plane to crash.

"It's speculation right now," Iovino said.

Weather did not appear to have been a factor in the incident, Lagos said. The crash is the first to occur in his four years at the airport, he said.

The Pinellas Pilots Association, whose members include several flight instructors, was founded in 1998. Members pay $1,300 to join the organization along with $100 in monthly dues, according to the group's Web site.

Mike Kutz, the association's treasurer, said Saturday's crash was the club's first accident. The Cessna was its only plane.

After the crash, at least six rescue agencies responded, their emergency lights flashing along the shore where the plane went down. Divers from St. Petersburg Fire & Rescue pulled out three bodies, which the medical examiner recovered.

As the sun set, emergency services vehicles began leaving, having secured the plane underwater for the night. Small planes don't usually carry recording devices to help investigators in the event of a crash, so investigators will rely on the condition of the aircraft, airport officials said.

Joseph Bellamy was a computer network engineer who had worked for Raymond James and Associates, according to personal profiles he posted online. He wrote that he enjoyed flying, hiking, swimming, computers and the Internet.

The Bellamy family has yet to make plans for a memorial and hasn't even thought about what to do with the plumbing business, Jeannette Bellamy said.

"Everybody in Palatka knows everybody and gets along pretty well," Bellamy said. "It's going to be a bad loss."

Sherri Day can be reached at (813) 226-3405. Stephanie Garry can be reached at (727) 892-2374.

[Last modified January 13, 2008, 01:27:12]