What next?

Small plane crashes into Tampa skyscraper
January 6, 2002 Posted: 1557 GMT

Wreckage from a Cessna 172 aircraft hangs from a skyscraper in Tampa, Florida.

TAMPA, Florida (CNN) — Authorities are trying to figure out why a 15-year-old student pilot, flying a Cessna 172 aircraft without permission, crashed into a Tampa, Florida, skyscraper and died.

The single-engine plane slammed into the 28th and 29th floors of the 42-story Bank of America Building in downtown Tampa on Saturday, killing the pilot, said Christopher White, a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration regional office in Atlanta. The wings crashed to the ground, but the fuselage stuck in the corner of the building. No other people died or were injured.

Two other small aircraft crashes occurred Saturday — one in California and one in Colorado. White House Deputy Press Secretary Scott McClellan said “none of the incidents appear to be related and there is no indication of terrorism.”

FBI spokeswoman Angela Bell also said “preliminarily, there is no apparent link to terrorism.”

Police said Charles J. Bishop was at the private plane section of the St. Petersburg-Clearwater International Airport in St. Petersburg, Florida, performing a preflight inspection of the plane with his instructor, his mother and grandmother. He apparently got into the aircraft alone and took off about 5 p.m., said Pinellas County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Sgt. Greg Tita.

“We believe he departed without anyone’s knowledge, or their giving him the OK to leave,” he said. Bell, a ninth-grader at East Lake High School near Tarpon Springs, Florida, had taken flying classes for two years, and an instructor should have been with him, Tita said.

“We do believe that the aircraft was intentionally taken — stolen — however, at this time, the investigation is very preliminary,” he said.

The National Transportation Safety Board, the FBI and the Federal Aviation Administration are investigating the accident.

A government transportation official said Bell was “preflight qualified,” which means he was authorized only to do a preflight check and that he had no authority to get into the plane alone.

When the plane took off, the air traffic control tower at the St. Petersburg-Clearwater International Airport alerted the Coast Guard, said Lt. Charlotte Pittman, a Coast Guard spokeswoman in Clearwater.

A Coast Guard H-60 Jayhawk helicopter on routine homeland security patrol was diverted and intercepted the plane, flying just yards away from the Cessna. “I’m sure the pilot saw that,” Pittman said.

But Bishop ignored motions made by the helicopter pilot to land at a nearby airport just south of the city, Pittman said.

Soon after, the plane crashed into the building without appearing to try to avoid it, a witness told a reporter.

“There’s not much a helicopter can do,” the Coast Guard spokeswoman said.

The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) also ordered two combat jets to intercept the plane, said NORAD Capt. Kirstin Reimann.

She said the aircraft, two F-15s, were stationed at Homestead Air Force Base in Miami, Florida.

Homestead AFB public information officer Capt. Richard Bittner said that the F-15s were from the base’s 125th Fighter Wing and that by the time they arrived on the scene, the small plane had probably already crashed.

Commercial airports in Tampa and St. Petersburg temporarily suspended operations. Federal Aviation Administration officials were on the scene within two hours of the crash.

The plane, built in 2000, is owned by National Aviation Holdings of Clearwater, according to Landings, a Web site that tracks information on individual aircraft.

The building is located at 101 E Kennedy Blvd. Authorities moved people on the street away from the building.

Though fuel was leaking, no fire erupted, said Tampa Police Department spokeswoman Katie Hughes. Firefighters inside the building sprayed the area with foam.

Pictures from WFLA-TV showed the plane’s front end inside the building, its rear jutting out over the street below.

But the building itself appeared sound. “Generally speaking, the building is safe,” said Capt. Bill Wade of the Tampa Fire/Rescue Department.

President Bush was briefed on the incident as he made appearances in Oregon and California Saturday.

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Is he a member of some osama-jugend? Guess not, or is he just a lousy pilot