A pilot was battered crashing his single-engine plane onto the Ocean Reef Club’s golf course in Key Largo, Florida, Friday.
The crash happened at 12:43 p.m., the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office posted on Facebook.
Neither the sheriff’s office nor the Federal Aviation Administration specified the cause of the wreck. The FAA noted the golf course is near a private airport for the Ocean Reef Club.
Blair Vinton, who saw the crash from his golf cart, told the Miami Herald that the plane “was about 50 feet in the air, and its wings were going back and forth. There were wind gusts, and it veered left and went down to the ground.”
The pilot, unnamed by authorities, was taken off the golf course to a hospital by a Miami-Dade Fire Rescue helicopter, the MCSO said.
Fire rescue spokeswoman Andrea Rudchenco told USA Today that the pilot was taken to a trauma center.
The plane’s registration number shows that the Cirrus SR20 belongs to Baker Consulting LLC of Mandaree, North Dakota.
The plane took off from Pompano Beach Airpark at 12:07 p.m., with Homestead Air Reserve Base’s tracker losing contact with the aircraft at 12:41 p.m., according to FlightAware.
The National Transportation Safety Board will lead a further investigation into the crash, the FAA said.
• Brad Matthews can be reached at bmatthews@washingtontimes.com.
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