1 Death Confirmed in Plant City Plane Crash at Blackwater Creek Airport

Update: The pilot has been identified as William Lee Phillips, 69, of 52 Lake Luther Drive in Lakeland. Phillips would have turned 70 on June 11.

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Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Larry McKinnon has confirmed that there is one fatality in the plane crash today at the Blackwater Creek Flightpark in Plant City.

The crash occured before noon.

"The single occupant of the airplane has died," McKinnon said, in a telephone interview on the way to the airport, which he said is about 10 miles north of Interstate 4.

The next of kin has to be notified before the victim is identified, he added.

• An updated Tampa Bay Times report noted that "the pilot circled the grass runway three times before making a hard landing that slammed the bottom of the aircraft into the ground," according to McKinnon, who added that the plane skidded about 50 feet along the runway. He added that the pilot was found dead inside the aircraft, a Challenger ultralight based at Blackwater.

Blackwater Creek is at 9002 State Road 39 North in Plant City. The stretch of road in that area is known as well as the Paul S. Buchman Highway.

"I never in my life heard of [the airport] before," said McKinnon, who graduated from Brandon High School in 1978. "I didn't know there was an aiport out there."

That's not surprising, though, he added, given that there are many such small, and even smaller, "little grass runway airports" throughout the county, including one, he said, that used to be at Providence Road, off Lumsden Road, where Heather Lakes now stands.

According to an online notice, Blackwater Creek is a private, ultraflight facility located eight miles northeast of the nearest business district and covers 7 acres. 

Check back for further details.