Two killed in Hillsborough plane crash

PLANT CITY — Two people were killed when a single-engine, two-seat experimental airplane crashed shortly before noon in eastern Hillsborough County, authorities said.

It crashed into some trees off Tangled Oaks Place, a rural location southeast of Plant City. It's north of State Road 60 and just west of the Hillsborough-Polk county line.

Witnesses heard the plane's engine sputtering, and the aircraft nose-dived into a tree line in the sparsely populated area, according to the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office. The plane came to rest upside-down in a pasture.

Authorities were alerted to the crash around 11:45 a.m. An investigator with the Federal Aviation Administration is en route from Orlando to determine the cause of the crash.

No one on the ground was injured, and no structures were damaged.

The plane was marked as an experimental aircraft. It was not an ultralight, but it appeared to be smaller than a Piper Cub, said Hillsborough Fire Rescue Capt. Jeff Martin.

Sheriff's detectives and fire rescue personnel are on the scene. The names of the deceased aren't being released, pending notification of their families.

The site is near the South Lakeland Airport. It's also not far from Plant City Municipal Airport and Lakeland Linder Regional Airport.