74-Year-Old Pilot OK After Plane Crashes Near Skyway Bridge

An ultralight plane crash-landed near the Skyway Bridge just after noon on Thursday.

Rodney Tyoe, 74, was trying to make a water landing, when a wind gust flipped the ultralight plane, which plunged into the Indian Key waterway, west of the Skyway Bridge. Gina Zimmerman, 55, was a passenger in the plane.

St. Petersburg Fire & Rescue said that a good samaritan in a nearby boat witnessed the crash and brought the pilot and his passenger on board his boat, according to Lt. Joel Granata with St. Pete Fire & Rescue.

Neither was seriously hurt

Then the Eckerd College search and rescue team met up with the good samaritan in the water and brought the people back to shore.

The pilot was treated at the scene with minor injuries. Zimmerman, the passenger on the plane, was brought to shore and taken to in stable condition.

Juanita Baker, Tyoe's daughter, arrived at the scene to take her father home. Asked if he would be piloting a plane again, she replied: "He's 74. He's not going to give it up now."

State officials were looking into the crash and preparing to retrieve the plane from the water.

Stay with Patch for updates.