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#truecrime #911 #september11
A teenage student pilot flew a single-engine Cessna into a skyscraper in downtown Tampa, Fla., yesterday evening, killing himself but apparently no one else, government officials said.
The pilot was 15, a year below the minimum age for solo flights, took off alone and without permission in a Cessna 172 in which he had been scheduled to fly with an instructor, the authorities said.
The authorities identified the youth as Charles Bishop of Palm Harbor, Fla., a ninth-grade honors student at East Lake High School.
Sgt. Greg Tita of the Pinellas County Sheriff's Department said last night that Charles had been dropped off by his grandmother, Karen Johnson, for a two-hour flight lesson that was to begin at 5. Sergeant Tita said that Charles was conducting ''preflight procedures'' in the plane before his session, and took off at 4:50 p.m.
Sergeant Tita said the flight instructor was ''busy with other students'' when Charles began taxiing down the runway.
''He did not have permission to take off in a stolen aircraft from St. Petersburg-Clearwater International Airport,'' Sergeant Tita said. He added, ''The instructor was in no position to stop him.''
Charles's takeoff was observed by an air traffic controller at the St. Petersburg-Clearwater airport, just west across Tampa Bay from Tampa. A long-range Coast Guard helicopter was already airborne on a patrol of the type instituted since Sept. 11, and was sent to investigate, according to a Coast Guard spokesman, Cmdr. James McPherson.
A crew member made hand signals to the pilot to land, but with no effect.
The Cessna 172 struck the 40-story, glass-and-steel Bank of America building on the 28th floor, site of the law offices of Shumaker, Loop & Kendrick, The Tampa Tribune reported. The building was mostly empty, and the plane, a six-seater, caused little damage and no fire. The Cessna 172 weighs about 2,400 pounds, about the same as a small sedan, and carries 56 gallons of fuel. Its wingspan is about 36 feet.
Although the crash seemed like a miniature replay of the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center, government officials said they did not believe it was an act of terrorism. Still, it seemed likely to revive questions about airport security, not only for passenger jetliners but also for small, general aviation aircraft.
It was not immediately clear if the youth intended to crash the plane; the bank tower is near another tower of similar size and one aviation expert said it was possible that the teenager intended to fly between them. The pilot never spoke to air traffic controllers during his flight.
The Federal Aviation Administration suspended air traffic in the area, barring takeoffs from the Tampa and the St. Petersburg-Clearwater airports from 5:10 to 5:50 p.m. and halting arrivals for a few minutes after 5:10 p.m.
A spokeswoman for the aviation agency, Laura J. Brown, said that the crash investigation would be handed over to the National Transportation Safety Board. The board is in charge of accident investigations, not crimes or acts of terrorism; the board's taking jurisdiction is a sign that for now, at least, the crash is being viewed as an accident.
The security of general aviation airplanes has been a major issue since four airliners were hijacked on Sept. 11. Even after the airlines were allowed to resume operations in mid-September, private planes were kept grounded for weeks. At the Airplane Owners and Pilots Association, Warren Morningstar, a spokesman, said, ''This unfortunately and tragically demonstrates what we argued before -- a general aviation aircraft just isn't capable of doing much damage.''
Aviation agency records showed that the plane was owned by the boy's flight school, National Aviation Holdings Inc.
28 авг 2024
