No injuries in Suwannee County plane crash
McALPIN, Fla. — A small plane crash in southern Suwannee County on Tuesday caused a fire but no injuries.
Douglas Eugene Fox, the 63-year-old-pilot from Sodus, N.Y., had just taken off from the small Little River Airport off 81st Road near McAlpin around 5 p.m. when his 20-foot, 2-seat Fisher Dakota Hawk plane began having engine trouble, according to the Suwannee County Sheriff’s Office.
The plane reached an altitude of around 75 feet, before the engine began to stall and Fox had to put the plane down in a pine tree field near 81st Road and 180th Street without being injured, Sheriff Sam St. John said.
Shortly after Fox got out of the plane, it caught fire.
“It burnt completely up,” St. John said. “Wasn’t much left at all.”
Suwannee County Fire Rescue responded to reports of the plane going down followed by plumes of smoke.
SCFR arrived to find the plane in flames as well as a brush fire caused by the crash.