2 Flights Crash-Land Off Hawaii; All Aboard Survive

HONOLULU (AP) — Two small planes ran out of fuel and crash-landed into the Pacific Ocean off Hawaii, but the five people aboard both aircraft survived, authorities said.

The Coast Guard says the separate incidents Sunday involved a single-engine plane carrying a solo pilot about 250 miles off the island of Maui, and another with four people aboard several miles off the island of Oahu.

A pilot traveling from Tracy, California, to Maui radioed authorities at 12:30 p.m. about plans to ditch a Cirrus SR-22 aircraft because of dwindling fuel.

The Coast Guard directed the plane to go down near a cruise ship, and the pilot deployed a parachute system around 4:45 p.m. and safely got into a life raft. Amid 9- to 12-foot seas and winds of 25 to 28 mph, the cruise-ship crew rescued the pilot, who was in good condition, authorities said.

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Coast Guard video shows the plane releasing its parachute and briefly dropping nose-first before leveling out and plopping into the sea. The pilot escapes out the top of the aircraft and drifts away in a small raft from the plane before it rolls over on its top.

In a second crash Sunday, a single-engine Cessna flying from Kauai to Oahu with four aboard declared an emergency at 6:18 p.m., saying fuel was running low and the plane may need to ditch, the Coast Guard said.

It crash-landed about 11 miles west of Oahu, and a Coast Guard helicopter hoisted three adults and one child. All four received emergency treatment, but their conditions were not immediately available.

 

Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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