SARASOTA, FL (WTAQ) - A flight instructor from northwest Wisconsin was killed during the weekend when a seaplane he was piloting crashed near an airport in Sarasota Florida.

Witnesses said 70-year-old John Ardoyno of Hayward did not gain enough altitude when his craft took off from the Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport.

Officials said the single-engine plane dipped in the air, and abruptly crashed in a field on the New College campus – about 100 yards from a campus building. No one on the ground was hurt.

Ardoyno’s passenger, 63-year-old William Jackson of Ann Arbor Michigan, was on fire when he escaped the aircraft. He was flown to a hospital in Tampa Florida, where he was in critical condition at last word.

The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating.

Ardoyno is a member of the International Seawind Pilots Association, and the group lists him as a flight instructor.

In September, Ardoyno made an emergency landing in a lagoon, when another seaplane lost its oil pressure and engine power. His passenger owned that craft, and no one was hurt.