So, we are sitting in the boat at the edge of the Albert Whitted airport runway watching these very cool vintage fighter planes take off prior to the start of the race. About 15 minutes later we see one of the planes flying back to the airport with a trail of smoke. As it approached you could hear the engine sputtering bad. It banked over the Pier to line up with the runway, losing altitude fast. We thought for a minute it was going to land on top of us. It cleared us, but not by much and about 100 ft. later, the plane nose dived and crashed just short of the runway. Both occupants popped up a few seconds later and were picked up by jet ski and police boat. They were fine and even refused to go to the hospital.

Other than that, it was just another normal day on the water.

http://gulfport.patch.com/articles/p...rand-prix-race

heck, not the first time a plane crashed before a race. remember the manatee plane in Daytona! not to mention a few choppers we dropped through the years.

I remember the Daytona crash. Thanks Steve!

Not being familiar with St-Pete boating etiquette and traditions and going to the PR next weekend... Is this something I should plan for???

Like putting radar and airline communication on the old girl or can I get away with the standard crap I have in it....

I think you just need to have the red flashing clearence lights so the planes know where you are.

As long as Stu does not plan to have an air show you should be ok.

http://www.baynews9.com/video?clip=h...e_prix_327.f4v

You can see us idle by at about the :44 mark.