Safety At Sea - Hanson Rescue Award Recipient
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for the rescue as follows: This article is from the Long Beach Yacht Club magazine, and it was excerpted with permission from the September 9, 2005 issue of The Catalina Islander, who reported on two recent plane crashes offshore of Catalina. . . . The second incident occurred on August 31,. The pilot of a small stunt plane was killed and his lone passenger survived. The plane went down in the ocean about four miles from the Island. The passenger was fished out of the water by longtime isthmus boaters Conrad and Katie Banks. The couple was aboard their 50-foot power boat "Memory Banks" en-route to their mooring in Isthmus Cove whey they came across the survivor. He and the pilot had ejected from the two-man, aerobatic plane about an hour earlier when they encountered engine problems. The Banks spotted the man's parachute and life-vest and pulled him from the water. He was unharmed, but suffering from mild shock and hypothermia. The Coast Guard later flew the passenger to Long
Beach Memorial Hospital for follow-up treatment. It was the second time that the Banks had been on
their boat and rescued a downed airplane crash victim. About 15 years
ago, the Banks happened upon a downed plane mid-channel and rescued two
survivors from that crash. In a phone call to the Conrads it was also learned
that they saw something in the water up ahead and changed course 10
degrees to investigate, where they found the passenger. Here is the NTSB Preliminary report: On August 31, 2005, approximately 1330 Pacific daylight time, an Avions Robin R.2160 airplane, N216RN, impacted the ocean following a loss of control and subsequent bailout by the flight crew near Avalon, California. The airplane sank in the Pacific Ocean is presumed to have been destroyed. The certified flight instructor was fatally injured and the pilot-rated passenger sustained minor injuries. The airplane was operated by California Flight Center of Long Beach, California, as a personal flight under the auspices of 14 CFR Part 91. The flight departed Long Beach Airport at 1221, and was destined for Avalon Airport on Catalina Island. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and a flight plan was not filed. According to preliminary reports from the operator, Long Beach Flight Standards District Office, and Los Angeles County Life Guard personnel, the flight departed Long Beach and headed over toward Catalina Island. The flight entered an aerobatic box over the San Pedro Channel and performed some aerobatic maneuvers. According to the surviving pilot-rated passenger, the instructor performed a hammerhead stall, followed by a loop. At some point in the maneuver, the airplane entered a spin. The spin's rotation increased and became violent. The instructor attempted to recover, to no avail. Around 2,500 feet, the instructor informed the other pilot that they "must get out of this airplane" and jettisoned the canopy. The pilot-rated passenger unbuckled his 5-point harness and exited the airplane. The pilot-rated passenger noticed the airplane, with the vertical and horizontal stabilizers still attached brush by him very fast in a nose low pitch attitude. He then deployed his parachute and noticed the airplane in the water along with the instructor's parachute. The pilot-rated passenger impacted the water and
began clearing himself from the parachute. He then inflated his life
preserver and began calling for the instructor pilot, but received no
response. The pilot estimated he was in the water for approximately 1.5
hours before the crew of a privately owned and operated yacht spotted
the pilot and picked him up on their way to Catalina. They called ahead
to the lifeguard unit, who in turn met the yacht. A US Coast Guard
flight and marine unit were dispatched to the accident area and found
the instructor pilot in the water. His parachute was out of the storage
sack but his life vest was not inflated.
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