Witness Sees Smoke, Hears Sputtering Before Plane Plunges Into Tampa Bay During Grand Prix Race

ST. PETERSBURG -- A T-28 Warbird plane plunged into Tampa Bay just 20 feet shy of the runway Sunday as it tried to land at Albert Whitted Airport, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

Two people were pulled from the waters of Tampa Bay at about 12:30 p.m., March 27, after the plane went down. The pilot had been trying to land at the St. Petersburg airport.

A witness reported seeing a trail of smoke before hearing a plane sputter, followed by "a big splash."

Alycia Dantzler of Largo was at the U.S. Coast Guard Base pool, south of the runway, when she saw six planes take off and then two flying back toward the runway.

“One was trailing smoke, and I didn’t think anything of it until I heard it sputtering," she said Sunday "We watched it circle around to land, and it sounded like the engine died.”

Dantzler said it looked as though the plane was going to land on the runway, but then she heard a “big splash.”

According to police, both the pilot and passenger in the vintage plane were rescued from the water. They were treated for minor injuries on scene and refused transport to the hospital. The plane was part of the opening ceremonies for Sunday's Honda Grand Prix race.

The pilot had radioed the control tower about possible mechanical problems, when the plane was two to three miles from the airport, said Kathleen Bergen, FAA spokesman. The plane was given clearance to land.

The plane is registered with a private individual in North Carolina, according to the FAA. As a matter of policy, the federal agenecy does not release the names of plane crash victims.

Patch spoke to David Barker, listed as the plane's owner. Barker said Sunday afternoon that he sold the plane in September or October 2010 to two men in North Carolina but he did not have the names.

Barker said he piloted the plane frequently and never had a problem with it. He said that with rising fuel prices, it was too expensive to operate.

Clean-up personnel worked through the afternoon on  containing a fuel spill that occurred as a result of the crash. The plane was still as the crash site at 3:30 p.m. FAA officials are on the scene and will release more details of the incident following an investigation.

The T-28 Warbird is a two-passenger, propellor-driven airplane, often used as a pilot trainer.