Young pilot rescued after small plane plunges into marsh in St. Augustine

ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. (WSVN) – A young pilot is lucky to be alive after her plane crashed into a marsh in St. Augustine, just a few hundred feet from several homes.

The 20-year-old pilot took off from St. Augustine Airport Thursday morning but crashed less than two miles away.

“A neighbor called and said she’d heard an explosion,” said Mary Strong, a nearby homeowner. “I didn’t know what was going on, I was scared the house had blown up.”

Interim Executive Director of St. Augustine Airport, Courtney Pittman, said the plane may have experienced difficulties during departure. “Upon departure, the aircraft had some trouble,” Pittman explained.

A battalion chief who witnessed the crash quickly acted, using a kayak to rescue the pilot from the marsh.

“It’s heroic, I mean, I don’t have any other words,” one man remarked.

Strong told reporters that the kayak belonged to her husband, and she’s grateful it was available at the right time. “We have not used it in months but I’m happy it came in handy to help get that pilot out of there,” she said.

The young woman was taken to a local hospital with minor injuries and is reported to be in stable condition. Officials confirmed she was the only one on the plane.

“She was completely alert, completely stable. We did transport her to a local trauma center just as a precaution because, just the mechanism of injury—you know, coming from a plane crash, hitting the ground,” a paramedic stated.

The exact cause of the crash remains under investigation.
https://wsvn.com/news/local/florida/young-pilot-rescued-after-small-plane-plunges-into-marsh-in-st-augustine/

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