Two people on a small seaplane escaped serious injury Monday morning when the aircraft crashed into the water near Davis Islands.
According to Tampa Fire Rescue, the small plane crashed about three miles south of Peter O'Knight Airport in downtown Tampa.
Pilot, 60-year-old Robert Kerrigan, of Orlando, and passenger, 50-year-old Eric Olinger, of Tampa, were rescued by boaters just after the 11:45 a.m. crash, officials said.
Tampa police said Kerrigan was showing the plane to Olinger who was interested in possibly buying it.
The National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the crash, but it appears the pilot of the amphibious plane was bringing the aircraft down in the water even though the landing gear was not completely up.
Police said the rescuers, Harrison Hodges and Frank Leto, were off-duty Hillsborough County firefighters boating in the area. The people on the plane had life vests on and were swimming when they were rescued.
"We didn't hear anything," said Hodges, a charter boat captain and reserve Hillsborough County firefighter. "We didn't know it was a plane. About 20 minutes later we saw another plane circling so we decided to check it out.
"We saw the two gentlemen swimming. We went up, made sure everybody was all right, that's the first thing you do, then pulled them into the boat. They were fine and then we brought them back to land."
Officials said the people on board were taken to the Davis Islands boat ramp. Tampa Police Marine Officers used airbags to float the submerged plane and then transported it to the Davis Islands boat ramp.
Kerrigan met with NTSB officials after the incident.
A Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office marine patrol responded to the scene along with the US Coast Guard.