TAVERNIER, Fla. – A small plane crashed Thursday night in a Florida Keys yard while trying to land at a nearby airport.
The crash was reported about 6:40 p.m. in Tavernier.
Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen said the Rans RV 7 crashed into a Tavernier subdivision while attempting to land at TavernAero Park Airport.
The pilot, who was the only person on board, wasn't injured in the crash, and there were no reported injuries on the ground.
Monroe County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Becky Herrin said the plane struck some telephone lines on Plantation Avenue.
Carol Houtzel was at home when the plane crashed into her front yard, damaging her sport utility vehicle parked in the driveway.
"We just all looked at each other like, 'What happened?' And I ran out on the deck and I looked over the edge and there was a tail of a plane in my front yard," Houtzel told Local 10 News reporter Derek Shore.
A neighbor said she saw the plane fly by low to the ground and then circle back, as if the pilot "thought this was the landing strip." She said the wing of the plane clipped a mailbox and a basketball hoop.
Neighbors and first responders helped free the pilot, who was hanging upside down.
The cause of the crash remains under investigation.