Home-Built Plane Crashes at New College, Claims Pilot’s Life

The Sarasota Patch has a report on the Jan. 12 crash of the Seawind 3000 amphibian plane that crashed and caught on fire at New College Honors College of Florida, shortly after takeoff from the adjacent Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport.

The home-built plane reportedly caught on fire after crashing behind the R.V. Heiser Natural Sciences Complex at New College at around 3 p.m. Saturday, according to a Jan. 13 update report from Bay News 9.

A sole passenger, a male, was being treated for burn injuries at Tampa General Hospital, WWSB reported. No bystanders had been injured, according to a sheriff's report.

• For more details, see Pilot Dead After Plane Crashes at New College (Sarasota Patch)

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Earlier in the week, Brandon Patch reported on Tampa pilot John M. Murray and his wife, Phyllis, who walked away uninjured after their 1981 Cessna single-engine aircraft crashed into a cow pasture off Dew Bloom Road in Brandon shortly after takeoff from Tampa's Peter O. Knight Airport.

“Apparently, from what I was told, the engine blew, and when the engine blew it blew oil on the windshield and the [the pilot] couldn’t see," said Tammy Morningstar, who lives in the neighborhood where the crash occurred. “It was a blessing that they landed where they did because there were houses all around them and they were 5 feet from a power line.”

• See Pilot Crashes in Brandon Cow Pasture in 'Densely Populated Area' 

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