A novice US pilot who said he was too scared to land in the Florida Keys on his first solo flight yesterday headed instead south for Cuba, where his plane overturned in an emergency crash-landing on the coast.
After landing the Cessna 172 on rocky terrain next to the sea a few miles east of Havana, the pilot, who was the only person on board, emerged shaken from the upside-down plane and was taken away by police in a Lada, witnesses said.
US officials later said he was being treated at a Havana hospital for unspecified injuries.
An executive of the US flight school, Paradise Aviation of Marathon, named the man as Mr John Reese, who she said was in his early 50s. Asked about a possible motive for his action, Paradise Vice-President Ms Ute Steigerwald said: "We are totally in the dark."
Mr Reese had been taking flying lessons for about two weeks from Paradise Aviation, which operates out of Marathon Airport in the Middle Keys.
"Tuesday afternoon's exercise was his first solo flight - if indeed he was a novice pilot," she said. "He was supposed to circle the airport once then come in to land."
"He said he couldn't land, he said he was afraid," Ms Steigerwald said. "The instructor talked him through it. Then about 100 yards (91 metres) out he turned toward the ocean and didn't come back."
She added that at that point he looked like he knew what he was doing. Although he had been in contact with instructors by radio, after he headed south he did not return calls.