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CNN Live Today

Plane Crashes into Car in Florida

Aired June 28, 2002 - 13:05   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Now, we want to take you to Florida. But first, before we do that, we want to take you to our own Miles O'Brien, who is going to update us on a rather remarkable story that is now being uncovered down in Florida. All I know so far is that it involves a plane and a car, and Miles O'Brien has the rest for us -- Miles.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, Fredricka, the rest is not too much more at this point, but let's just give you the basics here. This is a Cherokee 140, four-seater, flies about 115-miles an hour. It was having some difficulty on approach to Clearwater Airport in Clearwater, Florida, on the West Coast of Florida or near the West Coast of Florida, when it fell up short as it was approaching the north-south runway there, a 3,500-foot strip there. We don't know what happened, whether there was a problem with fuel starvation or the engine just conked out.

The problem is, of course, as this pilot was trying to land apparently on a street when it become apparent he wasn't going to make the runway, if I call your attention to this spot right here, the left wing crashed into a vehicle.

Now, we are told that the pilot was able to escape, walked away, but the driver of this vehicle, as we look at some of this videotape which fed down from our affiliate, WFLA, just a few moments ago, the driver of that vehicle had to be medevaced out of there with some serious injuries.

This happened at about 11:30 Eastern Time, just within the past hour-and-a-half or so. Obviously, this is a kind of unfolding situation. As we say, the pilot walked away. As we understand it, the pilot was alone. Checking on that, though, for you.

A Cherokee 140, four-seater, 115 miles an hour, weighs about 2,000 pounds, not going to make the runway. As you can see, there are some power lines there. That would have been something that the pilot would have wanted to avoid, those power lines in the upper left-hand portion of your screen there.

We are tracking it out of Clearwater, Florida, and we will keep you posted on what the cause of this incident was -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right, thanks a lot, Miles.

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