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Coast Guard personnel responded to a pair of emergency landings in Hawaii waters Sunday.
Four people were injured Sunday evening when a single-engine Cessna traveling from Hanapepe, Kauai, to Kalaeloa, Oahu, made an emergency water landing 11 miles off Barbers Point after running out of fuel.
A Coast Guard MH-65 Dolphin helicopter crew located and recovered all four passengers. The three adults and one child were flown to Barbers Point Coast Guard Air Station, where they were transferred to Emergency Medical Services for treatment of exposure injuries.
The pilot of the aircraft first contacted the air traffic control facility at Honolulu Airport at 6:18 p.m. to report that the plane was running out of fuel.
The aircraft disappeared from radar less than 10 minutes later.
Earlier in the day the Coast Guard teamed with a Holland America Line cruise ship to rescue the pilot of a single-engine plane that ditched some 253 miles off Maui.
The pilot, en route from Tracy, Calif., to Kahului, contacted the Hawaii National Guard at about 12:30 p.m. to report that the single-propeller aircraft, a Cirrus SR-22, had about three hours of fuel remaining and would be ditching in waters northeast of Maui.
The Coast Guard launched an HC-130 Hercules airplane and an MH-65 Dolphin helicopter from Barbers Point.
The MS Veendam, a cruise ship on its way to Lahaina, was enlisted to help in the effort, and officials at the Coast Gard Joint Rescue Coordination Center in Honolulu guided the pilot’s ditch near the cruise ship.
The pilot was able to safely lower the plane into the water via the built-in Cirrus Airframe Parachute System, an emergency full-plane parachute.
Once the plane was on the water, the pilot got out of the cockpit and onto a life raft.
Amid 9- to 12-foot seas and 25 to 28 mph wind, the pilot was brought aboard the ship at about 5:21 p.m. and was reported to be in good condition.
The HC-130 maintained communication throughout the process. The Hercules crew remained at the scene until the pilot was safely aboard the Veendam.
Passengers aboard the Veendam reported via social media and a message board that the outside decks were closed off and passengers were directed to return to their cabins while the rescue operation was underway.
The plane was last seen partially submerged.
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COURTESY CIRRUS