Man's Heroic Actions Save Passenger

Following the fiery downing Friday morning of a Lake 250 amphibian taking off from Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport, it took the fearless action of a witness to pull a 75-year old passenger to safety. The 46-year old pilot, Mark Steicht, was able to stumble out of the smoke-filled cockpit on his own.

Officials say Sticht was flying under visual flight rules and made a mayday call to air traffic controllers just after takeoff.

According to witnesses, the small plane (file photo of type at right) could not seem to gain enough altitude after takeoff. It clipped some power lines and crashed just east of the airport, reported the Herald Tribune.

"I thought it was someone barreling through our parking lot. I thought it was a red and white boat on a trailer," said JoAnn Galati, who saw it from her office window.

"I heard it in the air; it was puttering in the air. You could hear it spitting, like it was trying to get power but couldn't," added Willie Redden.

Willie's friend, Demetrice Higdon, ran up to plane and saved 75-year-old Novell Dawson, who was stuck in the passenger seat. Higdon grabbed Dawson, lifted him onto his shoulders and dragged him to safety.

"I ran over to him and just kinda wiggled him a little bit," Higdon said. "I wiggled him and wiggled him, and he kinda fell into my arms. So I put him on my shoulders and carried him away."

"I wasn't worried about it exploding. I was worried about getting someone out of the airplane," Higdon explained afterwards.

Witnesses say flames broke out 15 seconds after people got away from the plane. The burned shell was left sitting next to the road, surrounded by wires that it had knocked loose on its way to the ground.

A third person on the ground suffered smoke inhalation and required treatment.

The pilot told rescue crews the plane just "conked out." 

Both Dawson and Sticht, were hospitalized Friday afternoon with neck and back injuries. Both are expected to survive.

Friends did not know where Sticht, who has held a private pilot license since 1997, was headed, but said that he often took family members on weekend jaunts in the airplane.

The NTSB is investigating.

FMI: www.ntsb.gov, www.srq-airport.com