Small Plane Crashes in a Field Near High Point Elementary School on Saturday

The Pinellas County Sheriff's Office responded to the scene of a small plane crash in a field near High Point Elementary School in Clearwater on Saturday afternoon.

According to the Sheriff's Office incident report, deputies arrived on the scene at approximately 2:15 p.m. and found a small, single engine airplane that had crash landed in a field at 6100 150th Ave N. in unincorporated Pinellas County. No one was injured in the crash.

High Point Elementary is located at 5921 150th Ave N. in Clearwater.

Pinellas County Sheriff's deputies were only protecting the crash site until officials from the National Transportation Safety Board arrived to take over the investigation.

According to neighbors, there were no loud noises before the incident occurred.

"We were home and we didn't hear anything like a crash," Kevin Clark, who lives at 5859 Darren Court, said on Sunday.

"Afterwards we heard the sirens, and we could smell something burning...but it didn't make any kind of loud noise, so he must have intentionally put it down in the field."

"Later on in the evening, at around 6:30, we saw them removing the plane from the area on the back of a flatbed truck," he added.

Clark and his wife Connie, who have lived in the neighborhood adjacent to High Point Elementary for 26 years, said small planes from St. Pete-Clearwater Airport fly over the area regularly, though not directly over their home.

"They used to fly right over the homes, but a few years ago they changed the flight patterns so now they have to fly over the school and the field," Kevin Clark said.

According to the Clarks, there have been no other crashes in the area since they have lived there. But Connie Clark admitted the incident was "a little unnerving". 

The NTSB will conduct the investigation into the incident.