Federal aviation authorities are on the scene of a small plane crash in south Hillsborough County.
A sheriff's office statement said the plane is a small experimental ultra-lite fixed wing. It crashed some time before 9:30 a.m. Sunday in a cow pasture located at 6528 U.S. 41, near the Hillsborough and Manatee counties line.
The pilot, 82-year-old Eugene Massa, reported that after reaching 300 feet, the plane began to have engine problems and went down in a cow pasture. He had taken off from Manatee Airport in Bradenton.
Friends of Eugene Massa tell us he had recently talked about giving up flying and they tell us this latest incident may be enough for him to give up a hobby he’s had for more than 30 years.
“We went over and the plane is kinda rolled up in a ball over there and he was talking and we don't know what happened,” said Massa's friend and fellow pilot, Atlee Raber.
He says everyone from the Manatee airfield saw Massa’s plane take off Sunday morning, but they got worried when his plane disappeared behind the wooded area.
“A bunch of us guys we were everywhere and two of the people took off and went off and spotted it with a spotter plane,” Raber said.
Luckily Massa is expected to survive. We’re told he had surgery on his legs after the crash. And he’s expected to make a full recovery.
Raber says he took pictures of the aircraft after his friend was taken out of the plane, to the hospital. He knows the aftermath could have been much worse if the wreckage had caught fire.
He says that just shows what a great pilot Massa is.
“It was probably something with engine trouble. Couldn’t get it back to the airport and he put it where, basically off field landing,” he said.
The pilot was taken to a Blake Hospital in Manatee County. He was the only person on the plane at the time. The FAA is investigating the crash.