Pilot dies in Pasco airplane crash

The twin-engine craft went down on a ranch just miles from a private airport. Authorities haven't released man's identity.

[Times photo: Dan McDuffie] Officials examine the wreckage of a twin-engine airplane that crashed about 3 miles north of Tampa Bay Executive Airport in Pasco County.

By MICHAEL SANDLER

© St. Petersburg Times, published September 5, 2000

A man was killed Monday afternoon when the private twin-engine plane he was flying crashed after takeoff from Tampa Bay Executive Airport in southern Pasco County.

The Pasco County Sheriff's Office had yet to release the identity of the pilot by Monday evening, saying only that he was an adult male.

The plane crashed in a swampy patch on the 3,400-acre Anclote River Ranch, 2 miles off of State Road 54 and about 2 miles north of the airport.

"It crashed but did not burn," said Jon Powers, a spokesman for the Sheriff's Office. "It appears it went in almost nose first."

Powers said the plane left the private airport about 11:30 a.m., but the crash was not discovered for more than 5 hours.

A ranch hand was mowing grass when he found the craft about about 5 p.m.

"He just got through with his work and saw the tail end sticking out," said Kim Malone, the foreman for Anclote River Ranch who escorted Pasco Fire Rescue and sheriff's deputies at the scene.

Malone said a seat from the plane appeared to have been thrown 20 to 30 yards from the craft.

"It looks like it came down real hard," Malone said.

Investigators said the plane did not break apart or catch fire on impact. Though the plane went down in an area surrounded by palmetto and pine trees, the craft seemingly missed them all.

Powers said the FAA arrived at the scene to conduct an investigation.

A woman who answered the phone at Tampa Bay Executive Airport said the private airport would have no comment and hung up the phone.

In February, two people were killed when a single-engine plane clipped power lines and crashed about 100 yards from the runway at Tampa Bay Executive Airport. The plane, which was trying to land, swiped some power lines before it slammed into the ground just a few hundred feet off of State Road 54.

- Michael Sandler can be reached at (813) 226-3472 or sandler@sptimes.com.

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