OAN Staff Lillian Mann
11:51 AM – Monday, April 20, 2026
A small plane crashed into a residential yard in Tampa, Florida, on Sunday morning, bursting into flames and killing the pilot, authorities said. The aircraft narrowly avoided striking nearby homes, according to the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office.
After departing Tampa North Aero Park on Sunday morning, the Cessna crashed at about 8:35 a.m. local time under what authorities described as unknown circumstances, according to the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration.
The pilot was the only person on board, and the incident occurred in the Wesley Chapel area of Pasco County.
Authorities identified the pilot as 59-year-old Michael Bailey, who was flying the twin-engine Cessna 401B when it crashed in the Grand Oaks subdivision.
The crash sparked a fire on the property, causing significant damage to the home. Footage from a neighbor’s Ring camera showed a plume of smoke rising from the yard where the plane went down. The flames were extinguished by about 10:30 a.m. ET, Pasco County public information officer Sarah Andeara told WTSP.
Bailey lived in Dover and was certified as an airline transport pilot qualified to fly multiengine aircraft, according to the Federal Aviation Administration database.
The plane went down just one minute after taking off at 8:43 a.m. from Tampa North Aero Park, a small airport about a mile southeast of the crash site. Debris was scattered across the backyards of several homes in the community, and neighbors reported hearing the impact and witnessing the crash near their homes.
Christina Galbiati, a resident of the neighborhood, told Spectrum Bay News 9 that she was sitting on her front porch when she saw the plane come into view, flying “very, very low.”
“All of a sudden, I saw it turn and then just go straight down, and I couldn’t believe my eyes,” Christina Galbiati said.
“But everything looked mechanically fine,” Galbiati said. “I saw the propeller spinning, no fire or anything but it was really loud.”
The NTSB said that the scene is currently being investigated.
“Once on site, the investigator will begin the process of documenting the scene and examining the aircraft. The aircraft will then be recovered to a secure facility for further evaluation,” the agency said.
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