I would like to share it with our community...
A story typed up for JetCareers.com:
Today I witnessed the worst possible thing in the world.
An airplane crashing.
We were doing shortfield takeoffs in prepartion for the Mutli-Private Addon next
weekend when we heard a Cherokee call Fort Pierce Tower notifying them he was 19
miles east with a fuel critical situation. This is common when you are low to
semi low on fuel, so we thought nothing of it. We took a trip around the
pattern, landed and taxied back when the Cherokee made another call advising the
tower he was now 17 miles east, under no power and trimmed for his best glide
speed. Now anyone familiar with the area knows that 1 mile east of the airport
is the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. This gentlemen was 16 miles from land with
no power. My instructor and I looked at eachother and just prayed for this guy.
Upon holding short of the runway for a southwest departure, a Pan Am airplane
called up the tower and said he would head out of over the ocean to look for
this guy, so he did. The Cherokee who was now 12 miles east stated he now was
tilting the wing to use all fuel he possibly could and was now under
power....oops he corrects himself "We just lost power again"...So we get our
clearance for a right turn outbound to the southwest...We takeoff, turn right
and head out to do all the manuevers...
This is where is get's interesting...The PanAm guy who was heading out to check
out the guy gets a call....
"PanAm***, Tower, state your position".......
"PanAm***, Tower you on the frequency?"....
No response....
Tower then tells us..."Duchess 822ER, can you perform a mission for us?
We tell them of course..."Duchess 822ER, Ft. Pierce Tower, fly suggested heading
090, keep an eye out for the Cherokee last reported 10 miles out at 600 feet"
We proceed out to see a Cherokee low over the water and.....splash. The airplane
makes contact with the water and we lose sight of it....we begin to perform
steep turns around the scene at 1500 feet. The airplanes fuselage is now
submerged with it's empanage above the water. We see one life vest. We cannot
get closer to the water, per the towers instructions. We continue to circle and
soon enough...the empenage submerges and we lose sight of the soul. We get word
that coast guard is on its way, and we look out over the ocean to see a boat
racing towards the wreckage...of course, that boat is a private yacht and flies
right past our scene. With the sun setting in the Florida night sky, the water
when heading westbound is completely glared and it was impossible to look for
survivors...We continue to circle and my instructor gets the soul(s) in sight
and soon enough the St. Lucie Co. Sheriff Helicopter passes a few hundred feet
below us and begins asking us where to look...everyone continues to search to no
avail...then the best words of the day....
"Sheriffs helicopter has two souls in sight"
The coast guard comes with their boats and picks them up...both alive.
Although not many people get to see something like this, I thought it was
relevant to share with the community to say...
Never take life for granted. Never think "Oh I can make it back to Ft. Pierce
from the Bahamas on a half tank"...These guys tried to save a few buck...almost
cost them their lives. This is poor fuel management and poor flight planning.
Stay safe,
Brett J. Smithling
Washington ARTCC
Air Traffic Control Specialist
WestCoastATC.com
brett@westcoastatc.com
Hope this never hapens to us
