A low-flying light aircraft crashed after clipping the mast of a 37ft sailing yacht in Florida on Friday.

The pilot, a plastic surgeon, and his companion were injured when their aircraft crash landed on the Peter O. Knight airport in Tampa Bay. After hitting the sailing boat, the aircraft hit the seawall and flipped, landing shy of the runway.

‘The first thing I knew anything was wrong was when the rig started coming down,’ the yacht’s skipper said. ‘At 5 or 6 knots of boat speed, you can’t do a lot of maneuvering.’

He said the plane struck the mast of the the 1984 built Windseeker about 10 feet down. No one aboard the boat was hurt, but the crash caused significant damage to the mast, the sail and other equipment.