Cops: Seaplane crashes after landing in Peconic Bay

A seaplane struck a rock and crashed into Little Peconic Bay Thursday about 100 yards off the coast of Noyack, said authorities and witnesses at the scene.

None of the four people aboard were seriously hurt in the 1:30 p.m. crash, officials said.

High winds and rough seas may have complicated the flight, according to witnesses who had been boating nearby. The three passengers and pilot quickly exited the plane and waited on one of its pontoons.

Nick Alessandrini, 15, of North Sea, said he took two of the passengers to shore. "They were OK," he said. "The other two didn't get on."

David Keane of West Sayville, who said he was kayaking nearby, said he saw the plane in the water shortly before it stopped moving. "I saw it trying to take off. It kept spinning, going around and around and around," he said.

The pilot on the scene declined to comment.

Emergency workers on the scene said their main concern was the 100 gallons of fuel still aboard the seaplane.

The Coast Guard said Sea Tow service had been called to remove the plane, which was a few hundred feet from shore near a community of mostly summer homes in Noyack.

Little Peconic Bay sits between Long Island's two eastern forks, east of Riverhead.

An operator for the North Sea Fire Department said units from that company were still on the scene responding to the accident.

The plane is registered to V1 Jet Management of Manhattan. A call to its office wasn't returned Thursday night. The website for a company called V1 Jets International, an affiliate, boasts that its seaplane has been used to carry celebrities to the Hamptons.