There are still good people
Posted: Wed Jul 23, 2003 4:43 amA British-born New Yorker was hailed as a modest hero yesterday for helping to rescue five people from a light plane which crashed into Great Peconic bay, off Long Island.
Peter Johnson, 38, a graphic designer who moved to New York 12 years ago from Shaftesbury, Dorset, was dining with his cousin Gale Leddy when he saw the plane crash a few hundred metres from the shore on Sunday evening and paddled out to the plane on a windsurfing board.
Mrs Leddy, 62, said: "The plane came down with an enormous bang. I went to phone the police and Peter went straight to help.
"The fuselage had gone under and it was filling up with water. They only just made it. One of the women was very shaken up."
Mr Johnson left the scene of the crash to meet his wife without giving his name, which became known yesterday. The four passengers and pilot escaped with minor injuries.
Peter Johnson, 38, a graphic designer who moved to New York 12 years ago from Shaftesbury, Dorset, was dining with his cousin Gale Leddy when he saw the plane crash a few hundred metres from the shore on Sunday evening and paddled out to the plane on a windsurfing board.
Mrs Leddy, 62, said: "The plane came down with an enormous bang. I went to phone the police and Peter went straight to help.
"The fuselage had gone under and it was filling up with water. They only just made it. One of the women was very shaken up."
Mr Johnson left the scene of the crash to meet his wife without giving his name, which became known yesterday. The four passengers and pilot escaped with minor injuries.
