A small banner plane crashed near Flavet Field on UF's campus at about 4:08 p.m. Saturday. There were no injuries on the ground, but the two pilots aboard were taken to a local hospital, according to a UF alert.
University Police spokesman Maj. Brad Barber said he didn't know what caused the plane to crash but that it lost power.
The pilot did a good job landing the plane in an area without many people around, said UPD Chief Linda Stump.
"The airplane pilot did everything he could under the circumstances," she said.
Stump said she was glad the crash happened three hours before the Gator football game against the University of Arkansas instead of closer to or during it.
Law enforcement agencies have tried to work with the Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board to lobby for laws preventing planes from flying during large events, she said, but both organizations have been uncooperative.
"Since 9/11, most law enforcement agencies have tried to discourage any kind of flying over the stadium," Stump said. "From an law enforcement perspective, we're always against it."
However, she said, she understands the business aspect of people advertising via banner plane.
Usually the transportation safety board would investigate the crash, but because of the federal government shutdown, the Alachua County Sheriff's Office will look into it, Stump said.
Charlie Miller and Paul Miller, both 14 and of Atlanta, were playing football when they saw the plane flying low toward Flavet. They said it sped into a gray pickup truck, which flipped over.
The boys said two people got out of the wreckage, both bleeding. The entire ordeal was over in 10 seconds.
UF alumnus Daniel Knuth, 23, of Orlando, said the people were injured but walking. Their faces and heads were bloody, Knuth said, and they were loaded onto stretchers and taken away by ambulance.
Paige Kauffman, a UF journalism senior, said she was on Fraternity Row when she saw the plane in the air.
"I saw the propeller just stop and I knew it was about to crash," she said.
A close-up view of the truck and airplane Saturday afternoon.
