Two survive plane’s ocean splashdown
Astonished beachgoers call emergency water landing smooth
MIAMI — Beachgoers witnessed a spectacular scene Tuesday when a Piper plane crashed into the Atlantic Ocean, lifeguards brought passengers safely to shore and salvage crews lifted the aircraft from the sea bottom and towed it toward land.
The two men in the plane, which belongs to a Fort Lauderdale flight school, survived with minor injuries, officials said.
Colombe Pelletier, 70, visiting North Miami Beach from Quebec, was sunbathing at Haulover Beach and sawthe plane approach the inlet.
“I said tomy husband, ‘That plane is very low,’” Pelletier said about the water landing she described as being very smooth and flat. “Immediately, the doors of the plane opened and two men were on the wing and pulled out two bags.”
Miami-Dade Fire Rescue LifeguardMar-
cel Lopez, 40, was keeping watch from Tower 1and noticed the Piper approaching fromthe south.
“I knew it was going to crash,” Lopez said of the aircraft, which ditched in the water at 11:47 a.m. The plane’s propeller was going very slowly; Lopez said it seemed to have lost power.
Lopez ran down the tower stairs, grabbed a surfboard and rescue buoy and swam toward the men as they stood on the wings.
The water was about 20 feet deep. Tidal currents can move at 8 mph or more through the inlet and near the jetties, Lopez said.
At about the same time, a boater used a VHF radio to report the crash to the U.S. Coast Guard, gave the plane’s position and said it was already sinking.
The pilot and passenger were identified Tuesday night as Juan Jose Ortiz Carrera, 20, from Ecuador, and Fabian Ignacia Bobadilla24, from Chile.
With one man on the surfboard and the second man holding onto the rescue buoy, Lopez got them to the water’s edge.
Lifeguard Daniel Gunder helped get the second man to shore before the two were turned over to paramedics, Miami-Dade Fire Rescue spokeswoman Erika Benitez said.
“We’ve had plenty of boats capsize and made many rescues, on both the surfboard and Jet Skis,” said Lopez.
A lifeguard since 2000, this was his first plane crash.
“I’m glad we have the training to respond and save people,” Lopez said.
He was unconcerned about possible dangers involved with a plane crash, such as fire or a sinking wreck.
“By the time the whole thing is over, you don’t think about it,” Lopez said of the rescue, which he estimated took about eight minutes.
Pelletier said shewas surprised to see the plane fall from the sky, “but I didn’t think anybody was going to die because it came in so smooth and the men got out so quickly.”
The single-engine propeller plane can carry up to four passengers and is owned and operated by Airborne Systems, a flight school based at Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport, according to Chaz Adams, a spokesman for the air field and the city of Fort Lauderdale.
A receptionist at Airborne Systems’ Fort Lauderdale office said Tuesday the company was not making any comment.
Airborne Systems’ website says the business was founded in 1994 and is one of the largest independent flight trainers in the United States for pilots of private and commercial aircraft.
It also has a location at Merritt Island Airport in Brevard County. The plane, built in 1981, is registered there with the Federal Aviation Administration under the name Growl Inc.
The FAA said it will investigate the crash and that the National Transportation Safety Board will determine the probable cause for the ocean landing.
The FAA would not identify the men in the plane, and police and fire officials said they did not have that information.
Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Battalion Chief Aaron Marks told reporters that the two people aboard the Piper had “very minor injuries” and were not taken to a hospital.
He said the men told rescuers “they had some trouble and had to put the plane down.”
Tow Boat U.S. Miami and Biscayne Towing & Salvage used four large air bags to float the wreck to the surface and towed it a mile through the inlet to a boatyard on the Intracoastal Waterway, where a crane was to lift it onto a truck, owner Cory Offut said.
Before the sun set, the plane, with at least one wing separated fromthe fuselage, could be seen traveling beneath the A1A bridge toward amarina.
The plane was released to the pilot on Tuesday night.
Multiple agencies responded to the emergency. Miami-Dade Fire Rescue sent a fire boat, air rescue crewsand trucks. The Coast Guard sent a pontoon boat; police marine patrols from Bal Harbour, Indian Creek, Miami-Dade and North Bay Village also circled the crash site.
Staff writer Rebeca Piccardo contributed to this report.