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The tail section of a small plane hangs from the Bank of America tower in Tampa, Florida. Photo: Reuters
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A small private plane has crashed into a downtown skyscraper in Tampa, Florida, killing its 15-year-old pilot who had taken off from a nearby airport without permission.
Terrorism was not suspected, but the eerie incident occurred on a day marked by two other small plane crashes that left at least two people dead.
The two-seat Cessna 172 aircraft crashed into the Bank of America building at about 10 p.m., a Tampa police official said.
"We do not suspect terrorism at this point," the police official said in the telephone interview.
The US Coast Guard said one of its patrol helicopters had begun following the Cessna almost immediately after take off because it was informed the plane went airborne without the proper authorization.
"We had a Coast Guard HH-60 Jayhawk helicopter airborne on a routine port security patrol, and they were notified by the St. Petersburg air traffic control tower, at St. Petersburg-Clearwater International Airport, that a Cessna 172 had taken off without proper taxi clearance or takeoff clearance," Coast Guard Lieutenant Charlotte Pittman told CNN television.
She said the Coast Guard helicopter tried to contact the plane and lead it to a safe landing at a nearby airport but was unsuccessful.
"The Cessna essentially ignored these signals," Mr Pittman said.
The helicopter was just a few yards away from the plane, so the pilot -reported in local media to be 15 years old - could not have missed it, she observed.
AFP