A seaplane carrying three people crash-landed in a wooded marsh behind a Tavares home Tuesday afternoon, triggering a scramble of sheriff's deputies, helicopters, and neighboring agencies that ended with everyone aboard pulled out safely. The aircraft went down around 1:30 p.m. in the thick wetlands behind 28546 Tammi Drive.
Deputies and Chopper Crews Converge on the Wreck Site
Lake County Sheriff's Office deputies responded to the area behind Tammi Drive in Tavares after the seaplane went down, according to WESH 2. The sheriff's office described the incident as an emergency landing in a wooded marsh area, and the station's Chopper 2 captured footage of crews assisting at the scene, with at least one person seen being lifted into a helicopter. Seminole County units also responded to assist, per the sheriff's office.
By the time the dust settled, the sheriff's office reported that all occupants had been accounted for and were okay. The Federal Aviation Administration was notified of the crash landing and was responding to the scene, the station's report noted. The FAA later confirmed the aircraft was a Cessna 185 carrying three people that crashed around 1:30 p.m. local time near Tavares, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
A Cessna 185 Skywagon
The Cessna 185 Skywagon is a six-seat, single-engine high-wing utility plane built between 1961 and 1985 and widely used in general aviation. Amphibious float installations are available for the model, and float systems include gear advisory systems to monitor landing gear status between land and water, according to Wipaire.
Exactly why the Skywagon ended up in the marsh instead of on Lake Dora remains unclear. Whether engine trouble, weather, or a gear issue played a role remains under investigation by the FAA.
Why Tavares Sees So Many Floatplanes
The crash landed in the backyard of a city that has built part of its identity around seaplanes. Tavares has a seaplane base on Lake Dora and is self-described as “America's Seaplane City.”
Tavares sits along the Harris Chain of Lakes, which includes Lake Dora, according to MaxLife Realty. That marshy terrain is exactly what made Tuesday's rescue effort so demanding, forcing crews to reach the downed plane from behind a residential street rather than open water. Florida ranks second in the nation behind California in total certified pilots, a volume supported by extensive general aviation infrastructure and the state's many inland lake systems, according to Whittel & Melton.
Tuesday's incident is not the first time a seaplane has come down in Lake County's wetlands. Local emergency crews previously responded to a seaplane crash near Lake Idamere Park in Tavares, where the aircraft clipped trees before coming down in a wooded area, per the same Whittel & Melton account.
