NEW SMYRNA BEACH - Maybe next time Robert Abbaticchio will listen to his little voice when it tells him he should not go flying.

If he had, the 75-year-old New Smyrna Beach pilot might not have crashed while landing at city's municipal airport Thursday afternoon.

"It was all my fault," said Abbaticchio, who walked away from the remains of his single-engine Sonex experimental aircraft with only scrapes and bruises. "I had a feeling I should not go (flying) this morning. I read my horoscope and it said I should not go, but I did not pay any attention. "Now I have to deal with the (Federal Aviation Administration)."

The former Air Force pilot said he was lined up to touch down on Runway 2 when he clipped the top of a tree just west of the airport property. The impact threw the airplane sharply to the right. Abbaticchio said he was able to increase power and bring the plane in level onto the grass, but the force tore the wheels from the aircraft and damaged the propeller.

"At least I came in flat or I would have cartwheeled into the trees," he said.

Abbaticchio's wife, Taffy, said she learned about the crash from her husband.

"I was at a garden club luncheon and almost did not answer the phone," she said while standing outside the airport fence watching her husband photograph his airplane. "He said I just crashed the plane. I asked if he was OK and he said yes. Then I asked how is the plane, and he said, 'totaled.' "

Taffy Abbaticchio said her husband has been flying their entire 48-year marriage, which could explain her calm demeanor.

"When this is all over I will get mad at him," she quipped.