ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. (WSVN) — A young pilot is lucky to be alive after her plane came crashing down into a marsh in St. Augustine, just a few hundred feet from several homes.
The 20-year-old pilot took off from St. Augustine Airport Thursday morning, crashing down less than two miles away.
“A neighbor called and said she’d heard an explosion,” said Mary Strong, a nearby homeowner. “I didn’t know what was going on, I was scared the house had blown up.”
Interim Executive Director of St. Augustine Airport Courtney Pittman said that the plane may have experienced difficulties when leaving the airport.
“Upon departure, the aircraft had some trouble,” said Pittman.
A battalion chief who saw the crash, sprang into action using a kayak to go rescue the pilot.
“It’s heroic, I mean, I don’t have any other words,” said one man.
Strong told reporters that the kayak belonged to her husband and she’s glad that it was there at the right time.
“We have not used it in months but I’m happy it came in handy to help get that pilot out of there,” said Strong.
The young woman was taken to a local hospital with minor injuries, and is said to be in stable condition.
According to officials, she was the only one on the plane.
“She was completely alert, completely stable, we did transport her to a local trauma center just for precaution because, just mechanism of injury, you know, coming from a plane crash, hitting the ground,” said a paramedic.
The exact cause of the crash is still under investigation.
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