Pilot dies in crash of vintage planeA Korean War-era Navy plane crashes in some woods near the Lexington Oaks subdivision shortly after takeoff.By JAMES THORNER, Times Staff WriterPublished June 4, 2004WESLEY CHAPEL - Joseph Rendzio spent six years lovingly restoring his Korean War-era North American T-28B Navy trainer.Beckoned by Thursday's blue skies, puffy clouds and light breeze, Rendzio decided to take his dream plane for a spin.About noon, the old warbird, glorious in its new orange and white paint and Navy insignia, lifted off from Tampa North Aero Park. Almost immediately, something went horribly wrong.As the 1,425-horsepower two-seater roared toward the Lexington Oaks neighborhood about a mile north of the airport, Rendzio hooked the aircraft into a stand of pine, oak and palmetto.Neighbors heard what they described as a loud lawn mower sound followed by a thump.Then silence.The stretcher bearers who rushed into the woods were waved away by waiting Pasco County sheriff's deputies. A stretcher was no use.Rendzio, 74, was dead. The wreckage of the Lutz retiree's Navy warbird lay strewn on the forest floor.Rendzio's friends called him a hero. They assume he had engine trouble and veered into the woods rather than risk taking out the neat rows of beige stucco houses below on Lexington Oaks' Silver Charm Terrace.But many Lexington Oaks residents, already angry that Tampa North Aero Park's flight path hovers over their roofs, fumed at the thought of narrowly avoiding a neighborhood catastrophe."I'm sorry the guy's dead, but thank God he didn't crash into our houses," said John Inzilla, who was sorting through paperwork in his den on Silver Charm Terrace when the plane smacked the woods about 100 feet from his house.John Robinson was showering and heard an engine flutter and then break off with a thud. The plane fuel never caught fire, so no smoke trail marked the crash site."I'd been expecting this to happen," Robinson said as rescue workers poked through the wreckage in the distance. "I'd been expecting it on my roof."Silence reigned a mile away at the aero park, wedged between State Road 54 and Interstate 75. The airport's orange windsock hung limply beside the corrugated steel hangar. Cheerful banter from an FM radio station over the airport intercom belied the gloom.Unaware of the accident, Rendzio's son arrived to take an afternoon flying lesson. Airport owner Charlie Brammer broke the news.The distraught son sped away toward the crash site. Deputies wouldn't let him enter the woods. It wasn't something he should see.Brammer had watched the warbird lift off and almost immediately slip from view. Then he heard a pop. Brammer assumes the plane, not the pilot, was at fault. The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating.Rendzio had recently returned from California, where he learned how to master the controls of the T-28, known in its 1950s military heyday as a Trojan."There's no question he put it in the trees," Brammer said as he mopped his cheek of tears. "There was a golf course further on where he could have landed. But he might have hit people on the ground."Silver Charm Terrace homeowners' main concern was preventing a repeat. Neighbors gathered in a Pasco county meeting room in April to protest Brammer's plans to expand hangars at the airport.In their minds, the crash confirmed their worst fears about the proximity of the flight path."We've been saying, "Guys, something is going to happen,' and they won't listen," neighbor Nicole Arche said before phoning the County Commission office to complain.Brammer said neighbors should be thankful someone so selfless was behind the controls of the T-28 on Thursday."Joe did the best thing he could," Brammer said. "Unfortunately it wasn't the best thing for him."
But many Lexington Oaks residents, already angry that Tampa North Aero Park's flight path hovers over their roofs, fumed at the thought of narrowly avoiding a neighborhood catastrophe.
Originally posted by ra These Einsteins should have thought of that before they bought houses UNDER AN AIRPORT FLIGHT PATH.
Originally posted by Toad Gotta love the folks that move in under the approach pass because the houses are so cheap and then beech about the noise and danger.Well....... DUH! Airports been there 50 years, they've been there 2 weeks and they join the "Committee to make the airport move away from our lovely homes".
Originally posted by jaxxo I live in tampa and I can tell you the old folks hate the jet noise. Unfortunately alot of the economy is driven with the retirement dollar so they have substantial pull. I was active duty full time at MacDIll AFB when they closed it as an active base in 93. Best assignment I ever had The complaints of the jet noise by the seniors was a big reason. That and that hippy Clinton cutting defence spending.
