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CNN Sunday Morning

15-Year-Old Killed in Tampa Plane Crash

Aired January 06, 2002 - 08:01   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.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: In the United States, haunting images of September 11 from the wreckage of those three separate plane crashes. Government officials now say there is no terrorist thread connecting the Saturday afternoon incidents in California, Florida and Colorado. They're now dismissed as unrelated. The rapid fire succession of the crashes prompted a briefing of both the president and his director of homeland security.

The pilot of this single-engine Cessna died northwest of Boulder, Colorado. Investigators returned to the remote area this morning to search for possible clues. At about the same time, a twin-engine plane sputtered and plunged into a busy neighborhood in Orange County, California. The site is about three blocks from an airport. The pilot is dead; investigators aren't sure whether there were other people aboard.

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: Within an hour of those two crashes, another crash sent even deeper shutters across the nation. A small plane plowing into a Tampa high-rise, stoking the unnerving comparisons to September 11.

We get that story from reporter Tonya Arja (ph) of CNN affiliate WTVT in Tampa.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TONYA ARJA, WTVT REPORTER (voice-over): It was a scary sight for those who witnessed it. Scott Murphy (ph) says the low-flying plane caught his eye.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was looking on the other side to see if it was going to pass by the building, and I looked back and saw it hit it. I heard "pop." No explosions, no nothing.

ARJA: Officials say the plane, with a 15-year-old at the controls, crashed into the 28th floor of the Bank of America building. Both wings broke off and fell to the ground below. Luckily, no one was injured on the ground, but there were people inside the building on the upper floors.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The word started passing, I guess somebody got news from the outside that a plane hit a building or something to do with a plane and we needed to evacuate. So we took the stairs all the way down 42 flights. ARJA: The FAA, FBI and FDLE are all on seen, and dozens of onlookers and city officials who first feared a terrorist attack.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You think the worst when you hear that. I mean, your plane crashes in a building today and, my God, that's never happened here. I was very thankful to see a small plane sticking out of a window when I got here, to tell you the truth.

ARJA: Rescue crews doused the plane in water and fire-retardant foam to keep it from igniting. But the concern is that the tail section may break off before they can secure the plane.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SAVIDGE: And that was, once again, Tonya Arja of Tampa affiliate WTVT.

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