Interview with Pilot with aircraft that landed safely.
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Three People Survived Two Planes Collision
by Dan Keane 13:05, November 21st 2007
Three people survived after two small planes collided over Commencement Bay, near Tacoma on Tuesday.
One of them, a single-engine American Champion, landed safely at a nearby airstrip in Commencement Bay, Tacoma Police Detective Thomas William said, according to the Associated Press.
The two people on board, pilot and his mother in her 70s, clung to the plane until it sank and were saved by boaters, Williams said. His mother was intensively suffering from hypothermia when they arrived at a local hospital. Their identities were not released by the local hospital, but both of them were fine according to the doctors dealing with their case.
An official from Tacoma Fire Department said that the two had stayed in the water for only a few minutes when the boaters came to save them.
“I don’t think they would have made it had that fishing boat not been there. Those guys on that boat, they’re the heroes,” said chef Chris King, of Katie Downs Waterfront Tavern & Eatery.
The other plane, a single-engine Cessna 182 landed at Thun Field in Puyallup, about 10 miles southeast of Tacoma, with a damage to its landing gear, according to Federal Aviation Administration spokesperson Allen Kenitzer. His pilot, Bud Williams said he was heading home to the Port Angeles area when the planes collided.
“Came out of my right side, which is out of my blind spot, and I just had a chance to pull up before we hit. It was quite a hard hit. My first reaction was, ‘Where’s the other plane?’” he told KOMO-TV.
The pilot was not seriously injured and the plane appeared in good shape after the incident, Bruce Thun, operations manager of the Pierce County Airport said.