I'd like to know why the passengers weren't warned of the impending ditching. They seemed to be unaware until impact.

Was the person that died very elderly or out of shape? That was as survivable a ditching as I've ever seen.


That being said, glorious journalism! a straight ahead full stall plop into the ocean. That was a ditching executed perfectly right from an aviation standpoint.


My friend was the CA of the other Mokulele engine out landing, which he too perfectly executed... though on a road!

The person who died apparently had a history of heart problems. My guess is a heart attack.

FYI I'm very good friends with the Mokulele Captain who landed on the highway as well. He's a great pilot and an even better person.

I couldn't watch past the first minute... Such terrible journalism. First off, it plays out A LOT like some kind of ad for GoPro. Second the way she says "spiraling into the water" when the plane is MAYBE 20 feet above the surface level... "As water quickly fills the cabin" and they show about an inch or two on the floor.

Yeah, I don't know how anyone could die in that.

FAA Part 135 does NOT allow single engine land aircraft to be operated overwater beyond gliding distance or in IFR with paxs.

I believe there is a carve-out in the regs to permit Caravans and Pilatus to operated overwater and SE IFR. Perhaps someone could point me in the direction where I can read that reg permitting such activity.

Two recent engine failures and you think they be on these cases like the situation of 3 pilots falling asleep from sleep apena triggered a bunch of new regs.

I've never read any where that says SE IFR with pax on board is not permitted. However, VFR on top IS prohibited unless you can maintain glide to the shore in complete VFR conditions. The FAA out here in Hawaii actually prefers the caravans to be IFR.

The FAA is all over these cases, except these situations are far far different than people falling asleep.

OK - looks like Part 135.163 covers the SE issues. SE AC need dual this and dual that so C-172s or the like cannot be used for Pax IFR.

That sounds right. The Caravans I was flying all had to have a standby power unit and an alternate vacuum source. If either of those were not working you could not operate 135 IFR.

I tried to find out from news aggregators and could not figure it out either.

However, taking a breath full of seawater will give you a bad pneumonitis and possible pneumonia. A normal healthy person can handle this easily, and you would cough out water before it even settled in your lungs. Older people less so.

As another person said it they apparently also had pre-existing heart problems.

You'd be surprised how it can be unclear the mode of death. If family refuses an autopsy often it can remain that way forever. Generally only forensic cases will override previous patient/family wishes regarding autopsy.

They can most certainly operate IFR with passengers.

Thanks for the info on the death.

Small world! Totally agreed about him.