Second Person On Board The Seawind 3000 Survived With Severe Burns

A Seawind 3000 amphibious airplane went down Saturday afternoon just after takeoff from Sarasota/Bradenton International Airport (KSRQ) in Florida, according to officials. The airplane reportedly hit some trees and caught fire before impacting the ground, resulting in the fatal injury of one of the two people on board.

The aircraft took off from KSRQ around 1530 Saturday afternoon, according to officials. Television station WWSB reports that the pilot was identified as 70-year-old John Ardoyno from Hayward, Wisconsin. The passenger, who survived with critical injuries, was 63-year-old William Jackson from Ann Arbor, MI.

According to FAA records, the aircraft, N829GS, was registered to J&C Enterprises of Longwood, FL. It was built in 1999, and is listed in the "Experimental, Amateur Built" category.

Rick Parker, a former air traffic controller, witnessed the accident, which occurred on the campus of New College of Florida. He ran from his office to assist the passenger, who managed to get away from the airplane but was covered in flames. Parker said nearly all of his clothes were burned off. He said he told Jackson to get away from the wreckage roll on the ground to extinguish the flames, and then went back to try to assist the pilot, who was still alive in the airplane. But he said he was unable to get through the intense fire to help him.

Very little remained of the composite airplane by the time the fire was out. No one on the ground was injured in the accident.

(Seawind 3000 shown in file photo released to the public domain via Wikipedia. Not accident airplane)

FMI: www.ntsb.gov