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2 confirmed dead in plane crash off Johns Pass

Staff photo by FRED BELLET

The Pinellas County Sheriff's Office prepares to retrieve the ultra-light plane from the Gulf waters.

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By HOWARD ALTMAN | The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 5, 2009

Updated: 09/05/2009 05:29 pm

Peter Driskell, who lives on John's Pass, was working outside working on his grill when heard a plane sputtering as it flew by, heading over Boca Ciega Bay.

"I looked up and seen him come over and drop straight down … it happened quick," said Driskell.

The plane Driskell saw – an 8-year-old M-Squared 1000 experimental aircraft otherwise known as an ultralight – dropped out of the sky and into the bay at 9:40 a.m., according to Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen.

"This is bad," said Driskell.

Pilot Mark Joseph Young, 26, of 718 Roanoke Street, Dunedin and passenger Robert E. McLarty, 44, of 1326 Timber Ridge Loop North, Lakeland, were killed, according to the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office. They took off earlier in the morning from Lake Seminole, according to PCSO spokeswoman Cecilia Barreda

"My heart sank," said Driskell. "It's just tragic they lost their lives."

The Coast Guard was contacted shortly after 9:30 a.m. by someone who saw what looked like an airplane heading toward the water off John's Pass, according to Coast Guard spokesman Petty Officer Robert Simpson.

Witnesses who were aboard a boat on Boca Ciega Bay told deputies that they heard a "popping" sound in the sky, according to Barreda. When they looked up they saw the plane, which appeared to be about 300 feet in the air, take a nose dive into the water.

Deputies say that one of the persons aboard the boat, identified as 50-year-old Dennis S. O'Neill, jumped into the water and was able to cut one of the persons aboard the plane free.

One of the bodies was recovered by Sheriff's Office Marine Unit deputies. The second was recovered by Madeira Beach Fire Rescue.

Carl Pugh, a Madiera Beach events planner and pilot, was in his bathroom putting in his contact lenses when he heard the unmistakable low, droning sound of an ultralight.

"All of a sudden, something happened with the sound," he said. "There was a loud bang, and I was 'whoa, what was that?' I ran to my window and saw the plane in a crumpled heap, sitting in the water all by itself."

People started to look at it, then recreational craft headed out toward it and, about 15 minutes later, emergency craft, said Pugh.

But nobody came up to the surface, he said.

There are a number of similar craft that take off from a field in Lake Seminole, he said. Several are parked behind a Chinese restaurant there, he said.

The FAA will be conducting an investigation into what happened to the plane, which was owned by William Weisbrod of Stuart, according to FAA records.

Photojournalist Eamonn Kneeshaw contributed to this report.

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