Occupant Extricated from Overturned Aircraft at Clearwater Air Park
Crews were dispatched to reports of an aircraft emergency at the Clearwater Air Park located at 1000 Hercules Avenue N in Clearwater, Florida at approximately 7:30 p.m.
First arriving crews reported that the aircraft was on its roof and the sole occupant was still inside.
The incident was upgraded to an extraction operation and the occupant was removed from the single engine Cirrus SR-22 after a few minutes.
Clearwater Fire & Rescue confirmed that the sole male occupant died in the incident.
A small fuel leak was contained quickly by firefighters.
Winds gusts at Clearwater Air Park were in excess of 20 knots at the time of the crash.
The plane was a single-engine Cirrus SR-22 and was registered in Connecticut. The pilot has been identified as 44 year-old James R. Fink of Exeter, Rhode Island.  He was coming to town for a business conference.
The FAA and NTSB will assume control of the investigation when their representatives arrive. Early indications are that the plane was trying to land when it flipped and crashed and came to rest upside down.