21 September 2006
A British Airways 737 yesterday took part in the rescue of a pilot after he had ditched in the North Sea.
The Cessna – as yet we haven’t been able to identify it, but it is believed to have been en route from Germany to the UK – sent out a Mayday before ditching off the shore between Felixstowe and Lowestoft, off the Suffolk coast. It is reported to have been heading to Clacton, but was running out of fuel.
The Mayday was picked up by two airliners nearby – one British Midland, one British Airways – and a Russian ship, and it was the BA aircraft which descended to 3,000 feet to circle the area, allowing an SAR helicopter scrambled from Wattisham to easily find the pilot in the water. The 737 is said to have circled for 20 minutes.
The pilot was pulled from the water by the helicopter, and was reported to have been cold and very frightened.
SAR pilot Flight Lieutenant Steve Murkin, told BBC local TV: “The sea is not particularly warm even at this time of the year and he wasn’t dressed to survive. He had a shirt on, light slacks, no survival equipment, no life jacket, and I guess being in a light aircraft he would not have had the wherewithal to put them on, so I think he was very lucky that there was someone on the scene fairly quickly. ” There’s a message there…
More on the <a href=’http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=406054&in_page_id=1770′ target=’_blank’>Daily Mail</a> website, which includes a video of the rescue.
