Pilot, Passenger Survive After Plane Impacts Seawall Off Runway

An Extra 300/L on approach to Tampa's Peter O. Knight airport clipped the 50 foot mast of a sailboat in an adjacent shipping channel Friday morning, and crashed just short of the runway.

The pilot, 48-year old Dan Greenwald, and his passenger, 19-year-old Mitch Kirby, were assisted from the wreckage and taken to Tampa General Hospital for treatment of broken bones. Two people aboard the sailboat were unharmed in the mishap.

Boat owner Edward Allen described the incident to Orlando's Fox 35 News: "I heard an airplane, and I could hear it decelerating," Allen said. "I looked up, but I got a great big pop, so I didn't actually see the airplane.

"And the next thing I knew -- bang! and crash! and the rigging started to come apart, sails coming down and a roll of furling came down. I looked to my right just in time to see the plane hit the seawall and flip over, and I'm just thankful the guys got out okay," Allen said.

Captain Bill Wade of Tampa Fire Rescue said, "Had the aircraft hit low on the seawall, it would have smashed straight into the seawall. [It] probably would have made the incident a fatality. Fortunately, the aircraft hit higher on the seawall, causing it to just flip over."

Bystander Michael Beason, waiting for his kids to return from a flight in another plane, ran out to help. "The two guys had gotten out, somebody had lifted the plane up so they could get out, and they were pretty good one guy had a hurt hand, the other guy had a busted leg," Beason said.

The 2005 Extra 300/L (similar to type shown at right) is registered to Tampa Aircraft Holdings, Inc., according to Federal Aviation Administration records. The National Transportation Safety Board and the FAA are investigating.

FMI: www.faa.gov, www.ntsb.gov