15-year-old crashes plane into Florida skyscraper

A 15-year-old boy has died after crashing a light aircraft into a 42-storey skyscraper in Florida yesterday.

Charles Bishop took off without permission from the National Aviation Academy flight school, ignored a coastguard instruction to land and guided the four-seater Cessna into the Bank of America building.

Bishop’s grandmother had brought him to the flight school for a 5pm lesson, but he disappeared after an instructor told him to check the plane’s equipment before the lesson.

The FBI has ruled out any terrorist link.

Air traffic controllers notified the coastguard to say that a plane had taken off without permission and, with security tight in the US following the attacks in September, a helicopter was quickly dispatched.

The helicopter intercepted the plane and attempted to tell the pilot to land at a small airport nearby, but he did not respond.

Coastguard spokeswoman Charlotte Pittman said the helicopter was only yards from the plane and said she has no doubt the pilot understood what the helicopter was indicating.