On January 1, 1914, a decade after Orville and Wilbur Wright made their historic first flights at Kitty Hawk, N.C., a two seat flying boat built by Thomas Benoist and piloted by Antony H. Jannus flew the 18 mile trip from St. Petersburg to Tampa, Florida carrying its first passenger, former St. Petersburg Mayor Abe Pheil. Though rarely exceeding an altitude of 5 feet above the water, the flying boat reduced the time of the otherwise 2 hour boat trip to 23 minutes. The St. Petersburg-Tampa Airboat Line would go on to fly two flights per day for the next four months, though the company would go out of business after four months of operation.
