Witnesses related to firefighters that the plane was attempting to land and bypassed the airport on its first attempt.  The pilot raised the landing gear as he circled the airport.  On his second approach, the pilot apparently failed to lower the gear prior to landing.  Airport officials described the pilot as a “new” pilot and cite pilot error as the cause of the crash.

The plane had been rented from Voyager Aviation Inc., based at the Merritt Island Airport.  No damage estimate to the airplane was immediately available. 

Fire crews assisted airport officials and member of the Brevard County Sheriff’s Aviation unit in removing the airplane from the runway.  The airport was shut down for about a half hour as a result of the incident.