Small Experimental Aircraft Crashes After Take Off

A small single engine experimental plane crashed at approximately 11am, just seconds after take off on Monday into busy Highway 441 in Leesburg, Florida. Highway 441 is the main and busiest road thru the small town that is sorrounded by lakes. The small plane was believed to have clipped the jet-blast barrier, a tall concrete embankment at the end of the runway. The plane, who was operated by Bruce Hotz of Orlando, was then clipped by a vehicle driven by Enrique Marquez in the southbound lane. Both the plane operator and the driver were not injured. The highway was shut down for approximately 15 minutes while the plane was removed from the traffic lane by three people.

The plane, a Wind Wagon, was taking off from runway three at the Leesburg International Airport on Monday when the plane suddenly sheered downward and into traffic at the highway. This was the first real test flight for this aircraft.

Hotz, who is a retired U.S. Navy aeronautical engineer, has been working on this aircraft for some time now, and was in the testing stage of actually flying the aircraft. He had already completed a run way test and other air tests, but this would have been the first real test to guage if this aircraft was safe for flying.

Spokesmans from the Leesburg International Airport state that the air craft was at the airport for the last 6 weeks, and Hotz had been doing tests on the aircraft in the days before the crash. They also stated that this accident will most likly not change its policys on experimental aircraft. Leesburg International Airport reports that they have approximately 300 landings and takeoffs a day. Minor accidents do happen every few months of so and range from hard landings or landing equiptment malfunction.