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Small plane crashes at Pilot Country Airport

 
Published June 5, 2014

SPRING HILL — As reports flew in about a small plane crash at Pilot Country Airport early Thursday, managers said the place became a "circus." The incident turned out to be much ado about very little.

Shortly before 9:30 a.m., an unidentified pilot untied his plane and started it up, said Pilot Country Airport manager Carolyn Myers. He shut off the engine and got out of the cockpit, but the engine's power caused the plane to creep into a retention pond at the end of the runway.

Myers said the plane's wheels sat briefly in an estimated 18 inches of water, upright and unharmed. But a passerby on S.R. 52 saw what looked like a crash and called authorities.

About 9:22 a.m. fire trucks arrived and media began calling. The Pasco Sheriff's Office members helped pull the plane from the water and tied it back up again. Less than an hour later, the scene was indiscernible from a normal day at the airport.