Ditching 3

In the latter half of the year 2004, ferrying had gone mad. Aeroplanes galore needed to be moved from the USA to Australia and a few from Australia to the USA.  Ray was very  busy.  Lyn our senior instructor had served her ferrying apprenticeship and was now involved in moving single engine aircraft.  I only ever step in when there are too many to move because of our Kingair commitments. Besides I was going to South America and Ray was supposed to be in Australia to cover that period – this was not to be.

Towards the end of September Lyn was running in a new Cessna 182 ex-factory so Ray decided that she should give him a lift to Seattle in Washington State. They flew up, inspected the C182 (the one Ray was going to ferry) which was about eighteen months old and had around 500 hours on the engine. They then returned to Torrance – Los Angeles to prepare them for tanking. The flight down was 7.4 hours.  Oil usage was checked, the engine was looked over for oil leaks inside and outside on the airframe.  All was in order.  Meanwhile around the same time, I was returning from Lima Peru. I hopped off at Houston and had gone on up to Columbus Ohio where I met Simon Mathews who had a Cessna Caravan 208 that needed ferrying back to Townsville Australia. He was to fly and I was to provide the ferry component. 

All three aircraft met up at Torrance, finished the tanking  and on 1 October 2004 all of us went to Santa Barbara to launch the next day for Hilo Hawaii.  We had a great evening after refuelling, with Duane and Mary McNutt our Avionics friends whose office they allow us to use.

Next morning 2 October – Lyn and Ray launched at 0615 as a flight of two for Hilo.  Simon and I gave them one hour’s start as we were around 30 kts faster – the distance was 2060nm.  Simon and I  launched at  0730 and departed on the long trek.  The Caravan landed first after 13.4 hours. Lyn and Ray landed after us and had been in flight for 15.4 hours.   En route to Hilo I decided to check my standby ferry fuel system pump (on the ground at Torrance – it had worked). The aircraft had an electric pump with a standby manual hand pump to be used should the electric pump fail.  About the 5th pump the handle came away in my hand!! That meant I had about 4 hours of a wet foot-print – as we call it.  I could see it was going to be one of those trips! This hand pump had to be fixed in Hilo.

The next day 3rd October we refuelled the aircraft, fixed the backup manual pump system – and tested it. We then passed through Customs, checked the weather and prepared to be out at the airport by 0530 the next day.

4th October Simon and I gave Lyn and Ray a 45 minutes start, for the 1060nm leg Hilo to Christmas Island.  The weather was perfect which was unusual for Hilo where you generally spend most of your time soaked to the skin.  Ray and Lyn launched at 0620, Simon and I at  0715.  All was well. We were within VHF radio coverage of each other so of course we were all chatting about this and that. 

The Caravan was catching up.  We overtook Ray and Lyn and  saw them at around 9 degrees north.

Out of the blue I heard Lyn ask Ray ‘have you just reduced power?’ Ray replied ‘no my engine is running rough’.  That always makes one’s heart sink. He initially thought it might be a fuel injector problem.  The temperatures and pressures were all normal, and the magnetos were OK. He said he was maintaining his altitude. We were all pretty quiet for a while to let Ray sort things out. He then asked ‘at the present ground speed of 92 kts what would his Estimated Time Interval be for Christmas Island?’ Lyn told him – ‘instead of 3.5 hours it was now 4.5 hours’ – still plenty of fuel anyway – we always carry a lot on this leg because fuel at Christmas is expensive.

ay suddenly announced that his low oil pressure light had come on and that he was now unable to maintain height.

Lyn asked Ray if he was dressed? Meaning did he have his life jacket on – he said that he was dressed.

Then I knew it was on.  I was about 40 miles ahead.  I started immediately on the HF radio to call San Francisco to get the Coast Guard out. In between HF calls I heard Ray ask Lyn what was the wind strength and direction on the water.  Lyn gave him this information, told him the direction of the waves and followed him all the way down.  At around 1500′ to 2000′ Lyn said ‘there is a puff of blue smoke coming out of your engine’, and Ray replied that the ‘engine has just stopped’. His voice was calm and confident.  Then I heard Lyn say “ He’s down and  OH –  he has turned upside down –  I can see the life raft has come out the door a little yellow dot. I cannot see Ray”.’  She then gave me the coordinates which both Simon and I wrote down so that we could pass them on to San Francisco. N08 50.8 W156 35.38

My HF was working well, but talking to San Francisco in amongst the rest of the world trying to communicate on the same frequency was hard.  I asked San Francisco to call out the Coast Guard please as we had an aircraft in trouble (at this stage he was still airborne). They seemed to me to ask a great number of questions in an emergency.  Finally I said “Call out the Coast Guard the aircraft is now in the water”.  That got their attention and the frequency quietened down. (From beginning to end –  it was 20 minutes from normal flight to being in the water).  This HF exercise was probably about 10 minutes worth. There then followed around another 40 minutes of HF work telling them which aircraft had gone in the water and which aircraft was remaining overhead.  I often wonder why we put flight plans in, because they seemed unaware that it was a flight of two and they were confused with the call signs of the aircraft. It seemed to go on and on.  Who was I?  Where was I? Was the second aircraft, OK? What equipment did it have on board?

What position was I at – as if it mattered??? I gave San Francisco the ditching co-ordinates to pass onto the Coast Guard. In amongst all of this I was debating with myself whether or not I should go back and search and stay with Lyn or go on.  I had heard Air New Zealand on frequency.  I heard the Christmas Island once weekly flight on its way down and I new the Coast Guard would be there in 3.4 hours.  So I decided to keep going. Nothing much ever works at Christmas Island – The NDB is frequently unserviceable, the generator that works the airport lights is quite likely not to be working at all.

In between HF calls Lyn and I were talking.  Before I was out of radio range I gave her last light at Christmas told her to be very strong and leave the area when she had to – try and be at Christmas Island before last light – take a few deep breaths and really focus. We did not need another one in the water –  please. She said she thought she had seen Ray on the left hand side of the aircraft but was not sure whether she ‘wanted’ to see that or she ‘really had seen him’.  She told me the aircraft had sunk very quickly, and that she was searching overhead at 500 feet. She had got some kind of pattern going. During the first hour of her search, she saw nothing. Then later she came across the life raft which had inflated. This gave her hope as to inflate the raft a person had to pull a chord, however she could not see Ray in the raft. She passed over debris which included a wheel spat and a piece of cowling.  She recorded the latitude and longitudes of the debris that she came across, which she later gave the Coast guard. The other stuff she could not identify.  This meant it had been a hard landing. Where was Ray?

I heard the Captain of the Christmas Island Gulf Stream talking with her.  It is a lonely business out there, especially at 500 feet.  Somehow the Americans seem to be more understanding and helpful than their Australian/New Zealand counter parts some of whom  actually believe –   you shouldn’t be out there anyway. (I had someone tell me that once – when I asked them for a relay!!) The Captain’s name was Sonny and he chatted with Lyn which helped her enormously.  She just wanted  someone to talk with as she circled. He was great.  Air New Zealand relayed an ‘Ops Normal’ call but that was it. I now could hear the Coast Guard on HF giving his position and his estimate for N08 50.8 W156 35.38.  He was going to be within chat range soon.

I had 2.5 hours to go to Christmas Island from the time Ray went in.  I needed to get the lights up and running at Christmas – that was if the generator was down. I needed to think out whether to go on with these aircraft. Abandoning aircraft at Christmas, which is just about the remotest part of the world, would be an exceedingly expensive business – that thought did not last more than 2 minutes.!! Go to Honolulu – well that was iffy anyway – because when Ray was picked up by a ship he could just as easily get taken to Northern China!! That thought did not last long.  Were we all going to be fit to fly?  Was Ray going to be found? I knew he would get out of the aircraft but after that – the uncertainty begins. Yet again no life raft for him – not much luck.  There is always the debate do you tie the raft to your aircraft or not?  I say yes so it does not float away and Ray says no because if it inflates in the cabin you may not be able to get out – so there you have a 50:50 choice.  Ray’s life raft went out the door (or front window?)  inflated, AND floated away never to be seen again. So that is a no win.  The choice is yours!

30 miles out from Christmas Island I was talking to Wi-eta  the radio man and he asked where the other aircraft was.. I had to tell him.  He shot out the door and went and found our agent John Bryden who was waiting for us. John always organises our fuel, accommodation, Customs and immigration.  The commuter had landed so there were probably about 50 people there all waiting and watching.  I did the Customs bit then talked to John and his wife Anna. I asked him to see if the generator was working as Lyn may come in after last light.  It was not working. John went away and fixed it.  I discussed having cars on standby in case it quit again.  He said there would be plenty to help if needed.  Wi-eta came and talked.   Sonny the commuter captain came and asked me if I wanted a lift back to Honolulu – I asked him how long did I have to make a decision – he said 30 minutes.  After 10 minutes I went over and said thanks very much but I had made the decision to keep going. It was kind of him to delay his flight – I appreciated that very much.

John, Simon and I refuelled our aircraft.  By now it was not that long until last light. We were all waiting for Lyn.

Sonny left Christmas Island and got within chat range again with Lyn.  He told her that they were working on the generator and that she might not have runway lights. She said ‘out of all the things that had gone wrong that day the one certainty she had was that I would have either the runway lights fixed or cars along the runway for her.’

Last light was 1840 local time – Lyn  landed at 1839 – great timing.

She was not a happy camper and felt that she had done nothing to save Ray’s life.  She felt helpless.  We all did, but I pointed out to her that flying overhead for 3.5 hours had given Ray great hope, because he could see her circling. John and Simon refuelled Lyn’s aircraft in the dark. We then went back to John and Anna’s home where they let me use their phone to ring Wayne,  Ray’s son and tell him that yet again his Dad was in the water.   He would have to handle the rest of his family as he saw fit. I rang Tom McCrae in Torrance and told him Ray was in the water again. I asked if he would also get in touch with Duane and Mary McNutt at Santa Barbara.

Back at the hotel we ate just about the worst meal of our lives.   One – Ray was in the water, and two – they had kept lovely lobster tails in the oven until they had completely dried out!  For some reason I knew that Ray was in a life raft, don’t ask me how.  Then at 2100 the telephone went and the Coast Guard were saying that Ray was in a life raft that they had dropped to him just before dark and a ship would pick him up at around 0300 in the morning. They gave me phone numbers to ring and said get in touch early the next morning.

I told Lyn that she must call the shots the next day – if she wanted a rest day just say so. We would stay.

At the back of my mind I was wondering what and where Ray was – yes in the water but was he OK.  What is the sea like? Big waves or small?  The huge concern I had was thirst and sunburn.   Going down at 1130 meant there were many hours to get burned and thirsty.  No matter what you say you are going to have in your life jacket or on your head or in some pocket – the actual landing in the water thwarts all of that.  Survival is not easy. Just getting out of the aircraft itself whilst it is sinking and sinking rapidly is the name of the game. When an aircraft turns on its back you are not always aware that it is has done so. You become aware because the light is above you and the bubbles are going up. Whatever one reads about water landings they say – remember to take a huge breath.  I asked Ray afterwards had he done so – and he said no.  That means he got mouthfuls of water!

5th October – I got up early, returned to John and Anna’s home, rang the Coast Guard and they said Ray had been picked up, was not injured in any way and at this moment was asleep.  Given that he was asleep I did not ask to be patched through. I then rang Tom McCrae who said Duane had rung him saying that Ray had been rescued – it was all over the Californian press apparently, and radio. I told Tom we were moving on and I would call him from Australia.

Lyn said she would keep going.  So out we went to the airport.  The leg to Pago Pago is 1260nm – I told her I would give one hour’s start as I wanted to be in two-way communication the whole trip with her.  She must come up on frequency the minute I called. I shut the door on her, she started the engine and away she went.  She was being very brave. The weather was beautiful. At least that side of things was going well. The trip to Pago was uneventful. We all landed and refuelled. I decided that I needed to clean the fuel filter for the ferry system which was between the two front seats.  Simon on one side of the aircraft standing on the ladder and leaning over the pilot’s seat, worked away at pulling it apart. It was not easy.

Myself on the other side standing on the ladder and leaning over the co-pilots seat was watching and maybe helping.  Finally, we were finished, the filter was clean and back together. Then the next disaster struck.  My left hand, which was wet with fuel slipped from the side of the ladder and I fell to the ground swinging around and landing on my left arm.  It broke immediately, swelled up in 0.1 of a second and was at 90 degrees.  I held my wrist with my right hand and got up and went and sat on the caravan wheel. The wheels on a Caravan are large.  I felt faint but knew if I fainted and lost hold of my left wrist it would probably break even more – if that was possible.  So I lay forward whilst sitting, which in fact was quite comfortable, and got over it.  Meanwhile Niffu our fuel man called the police car to get the Ambulance.

The police picked me up then chased around looking for  the ambulance and the ambulance was searching for the police car. When I was finally in the ambulance they then proceeded to the hospital about 15 miles away at full speed ahead, sirens blaring and as they went they hit every pot hole that exists in Pago.  Lyn told them that I was not dying of a heart attack. It was a broken arm. Could they please slow down.  No way.  Meanwhile I held my wrist with my right hand and kept my left arm up vertically which then swayed around every corner and jumped up after hitting each pothole. I just kept on holding my wrist.  Meanwhile I had been strapped into the stretcher but Lyn was holding me at the shoulder to make sure I did not fall out.   The emergency department people came and looked.  A very nice doctor who looked Indian came and talked.  He said he was from Fiji. He would call the general  surgeon. He came and said it needed to be reduced.  Did I wish it to be wrapped up here and sent home or reduced here. I told him it needed to be done here as I was flying in a light aircraft – that interested them, so arrangements were made to put me hospital for the night to be operated on the next day.

During this time a lady turned up and just stood there very quietly next to my bed.  After a time, she told me her name was Sapati and she was the wife of Nifu who refuelled us.  She stayed with myself and Lyn throughout, bought me a towel, toothpaste and tooth brush.  Nifu came and they both took Lyn to get some food, put me in my room and then took Lyn back to her hotel.  By this time it was now about 2130.

Sapati told me she would make sure I was operated on first thing in the morning before the rest of the people.  It transpired that she worked in administration in the hospital! They were having an early morning meeting to organise the schedule. At 0800 six people marched in to my room and surrounded my bed.  They all formally introduced themselves and said what they did. They wanted to know about my flying, how long could you continue to fly.  Was it age limited, or hours limited. What about the Airliners in the USA – they had heard about retirement ages, was it the same in Australia.

There were 3 doctors and 3 others.  They loved being able to show that this break was a classic ‘Colle’s fracture, radius broken, ulna cracked, hand pushed back.  Much discussion and gazing at the x-rays, In-House training going on – me thinks.  Meanwhile I asked them all where they were from and where they were trained. The Orthopaedic Surgeon had done his speciality in Sydney. It transpired that because Samoa is a dependency of the USA they have the right to live and work but not vote in the USA so – many of the nurses were US trained. The Fijian doctors tended to be specialist trained in Australia.  At 0900 I was wheeled in and my arm fixed.

At mid-day Lyn came and picked me up – Sapati had brought her.  Sapati then took us both back to the hotel. At 1900 I had to return to the hospital, when the plaster was dry to get it split down the middle on the inside so that it would leave room for expansion. Niffu came to dinner then off we drove, picked up Sapati, and went to the hospital to find the surgeon. He wielded an ominous cutting saw with jagged teeth!! It looked positively dangerous to me – but he held it to his own hand turned the motor on and showed me that it did not hurt!!  Thank God for the Lyndon B. Johnston hospital in Pago.

7th October – Having made delightful new friends with Sapati, Niffu and the doctors – it was sad to leave but we took off for Noumea. 1390 nm.  My arm struggled at 9000 feet and above.  The weather was benign yet again, and the trip was uneventful. Lyn was given a one hour start and we were in constant two-way communication.

8th October – now the 9th in Australia – we both took off at the same time – Lyn for Coolangatta and subsequently Bankstown, Simon and myself for Townsville.  We had great weather, Lyn’s weather was not so good.  Both aircraft landed at their various destinations safely.  Simon and his mechanic de-tanked the caravan and I helped pack as best I could.  I then went and found a hotel and a great little restaurant on the beach.  Had two of the coldest and bestest beers, saluted the end of my single piston engine ferrying career – and had a good dinner.  Amazing when you only have one useful hand, who you meet and who helps you cut up your food, tie your shoes and carry your bags. 0600 the next day saw me on the Virgin Blue gas burner to Sydney. Simon on the 0600 Qantas gas burner to Sydney.

I have to say that without Simon Mathews being on board the Caravan would probably be still sitting on the tarmac at Pago.

Back in Sydney – Ray had set up daily communications from the ship that had picked him up.  I knew he would be on the bridge learning all about how to run a container ship. We rang him twice a day during which time he told us of the ships progress, where it was and of his new found friends who were looking after and caring for him.

LT Robert Bickerstaff Commander of the C-130

My name is LT Robert Bickerstaff and I was the C-130 aircraft commander for the second USCG plane for your search and rescue. I just got done reading your Triathlon Two letter and enjoyed it very much. I thought you might be interested in the case from my experiences. I arrived to work around 1500 and was told we would be taking off around 1600 to fly on a ditched plane 750 nm south of us. We were going to be the 2nd plane to fly on your case. We took off just prior to 1600 and had about 2.8 hours to get on scene. Enroute we had communications with the other C-130 that was on scene first.

They had just located you and had just conducted drops to give you a life raft and survival supplies. Talking to them later, this is what I have learned from their story: They arrived on scene and got a brief from Lyn. They remember her being very scared and worried for you, but she provided great information for the crew to use to help locate you. They decided they were searching for a person in the water and not a life raft from her account. In other words, they were looking for your coconut sticking out of the water. Usually, we won’t even use our search radar when we are looking for a person in the water because it is almost impossible to find someone with the radar, but the flight engineer told our radar operator to look at the radar.

I am a Christian, so my perspective may be different than some, but I believe your Guardian Angel was looking after you in a mighty way. We have some of the best crews in the world, but to find your head on the radar is divine intervention in my opinion. Even after seeing you on the radar it is very difficult to find a person in the water even with the radar steering us in the right direction. So the first C-130 crew did an outstanding job locating you and dropping the rafts within close reach of you. By the time we got on scene it was getting dark and the other C-130 was unable to see if you had entered the life raft due to darkness. We had an infrared camera on our plane so we were able to confirm that you were safely inside.

We could also see you eating something inside (pretty amazing technology isn’t it?) After we confirmed you were safely aboard, the first C-130 left to hustle back to Barbers Point to refuel and come back out to ensure around the clock coverage of you. One of the keys to a successful case is making sure you have around the clock visual reference of survivors. If we did not have a C-130 over you until the LOS ANGELES came, there would have been a good chance of never finding you again.

We have 4 C-130s at Barbers Pt, but only 2 were operational that day. The LOS ANGELES’s ETA was 0300 and we were doing some simple math to determine that if we didn’t shutdown engines and conserve fuel, there would be a 3 hour gap where no C-130 would be over you. I decided to shutdown engines to conserve fuel and remain on scene until the LOS ANGELES arrived. I immediately shutdown #4 engine, and flew around for approx 2.5 more hours before also securing #1 engine.

I could not secure 2 engines right away because I was too heavy and would have descended into the water with you. I also climbed to conserve fuel. I wanted to climb to 10k’, but started thinking you might not see me up there and therefore lose hope so I stopped at 5k and turned on every light I could. By the way, did you know we were there the entire time? With the infrared camera we could see you and monitor you through the night and early morning. The controls and monitor for the camera are in the back of the C-130 so I was not able to watch you, but we had someone doing it all night until the rains came.

The camera does not see-through rain, so we got a little nervous when we couldn’t see you. We were flying maximum endurance airspeeds and did a big circle around you the entire night, but we weren’t able to use the autopilot because at the very slow max endurance airspeeds, the airplane waffled very badly on autopilot, so we hand-flew it most of the night with no visible horizon. We talked to the LOS ANGELES as soon as we could and updated them on your current position and hustled them up as much as possible so that we would be on scene with the infrared camera when they arrived. About a half hour prior to their arrival, I decided to descend and drop a flare next to you so that they could find you right away.

We actually had a hard time finding you during this time because of the rain and believe it or not, the strobes were hardly visible from the air. Our infrared camera operator did an outstanding job and relocated you. I then became nervous about dropping a flare too close to you and hitting you, because like I said we couldn’t see much from the cockpit and the camera is on a pallet in the back so I decided to drop 4 flares forming a fairly small square around you to assist the LOS ANGELES in quickly finding you.

Obviously, the Captain of that vessel did an outstanding job steering that huge vessel and stopping it right next to you! We started up both engines and landed back at Barbers Point at 0500.We had 8 people on our aircraft and 7 on the other aircraft, but the USCG doesn’t want me releasing their names. Their positions are:

Pilot Co-Pilot Flight Engineer Navigator/Radar Operator Radioman Load Master Drop Master Sensor System Operator

It was an honor playing a very small part in your rescue. In your world travels, if you find yourself coming through Oahu, let me know and we’ll have a beer or 2 together.

Signed – Robert

Here is Margaret Steijn-Woodbridge version

On board the P. & O. Nedlloyd Los Angeles, a Dutch shipping company –  Hans Wijntjes, Captain, Dutch Officer;  Jan Steijn, Chief Engineer with his New Zealand wife Margaret Steijn-Woodbridge; a 4th Dutch Maritime Officer and the Philippine crew.

14 October 2004.

“Fly a little, swim a little and boat a little” –  this is Ray Clamback’s motto.   Born 67 years ago in Australia, this well respected and renowned self-employed accomplished Navigator, flying a Cessna 182 light single engine aircraft, set off with another colleague Lyn Gray (also flying a Cessna 182).

Colleague Aminta Hennessy, flying a Cessna Caravan flew ahead.   After taking possession of the near-new Cessna one week previously in Seattle, they flew into Santa Barbara, California two days previously.  Then they went onto Hawaii; around 15 hours flight and on arrival enjoyed a one-day rest.  On the next leg of the journey, they took off on October 4th 2004, heading for Christmas Island, 1068 nautical miles, approx. 8 hours flight with good weather conditions.  

They took off at 0620 hrs, flying alongside Lyn.  Approximately. 600 nautical miles south of Hawaii, the plane developed an engine problem – drop in oil pressure.  Aminta, in her Cessna Caravan immediately alerted the U.S. Coast Guard on HF radio while Ray, in his plane donned his lifejacket.   Within a short time the engine seized and the plane ditched, on impact turned  upside down, into the sea.

Ray attempted to take the life raft out, lying next to him, but it got stuck.

Lyn observed that unbeknown to Ray, it exited by itself on the co-pilots side and sank within minutes due to the manual release-inflation handle not being operated.   Ray, then, was in the water only with his lifejacket and no communication.   Lyn saw him exit the plane, then due to conditions, lost sight of him.   She kept searching for over 4 hours until the two U.S. Coast Guard planes arrived, whence she was forced (due to fuel shortage) to retire the scene and carried onto Christmas Island.  Due to Rays’ extensive voluntary SAR experience this helped him to save his own life: logical thinking, conserving energy and not panicking.

The U.S. Coast Guard began their search for Ray; this required a few more hours.   To find a “head” in the Ocean is like trying to find a needle in a haystack.

Determination, experience and endurance – the boys finally located Ray, just at dusk, after Ray had been 6 ½ hours in the water!  Ray saw them fly over him, they parachuted two life rafts and a package (probably an extra survival kit). Ray tried to swim for the first life raft, but had to give up.  The second life raft landed within reach, upside down.    Ray managed to turn the life raft upright and scamper aboard.   This absolutely exhausted him – no easy feat in a sea swell when one is tired with wet heavy clothes and having spent a long time in the water.  The package was not found.     Ray, knowing the U.S. Coast Guard had located him, knew then from experience that this American first-class rescue service – one way or another, would rescue him and a ship would be on the way to pick him up.   He was correct.  

The U.S. Coast Guard boys circled him and stayed with him during the rescue. Initially they placed a couple of flares by him; when these ran out, Ray knew that the rescue would not be immediate.   He drank a little of the water from the Survival Kit on board the life raft and nibbled on the special long-lasting sandwich.   He also found a few thermal blankets to wrap around him once it started to pour with rain – one hour of misery.    This tropical rain was so cold, even with the help of the blankets, he felt cold to the bone.   He had continually wet bare feet and wet clothes (the raft had a slow leak and the rain poured in as well).   He bailed the water out as much as he could and then tried to lie low down on the wet floor of the raft – out of the wind.   Another 10 hours passed with only the company of the wonderful U.S. Coast Guard planes that continually circled him, when suddenly the pilots started to drop more flares.   “Hooray” thought Ray – something was going to happen.   Sure enough – he saw a very bright light in the distance from some sort of vessel.   This vessel turned out to be the P.& O. Nedlloyd Los Angeles.  Ray’s praise of the U.S. Coast Guard cannot be high enough., he states that if these boys search for you – you will be found!

Question :  How do your manoeuvre a 205 meter long ship with a 37,428 tonne displacement exactly alongside a one meter wide life raft in this huge ocean?    Please note: the idea is to make a rescue and not ram the life raft, nor for that matter, the survivor!   A high rate of accidents, mostly fatal can occur during the actual rescue of the survivor from the water.

On board P.& O. Nedlloyd Los Angeles the distress call from the Honolulu RCC (Rescue Co-ordination Centre) was received around 1250 hrs (ships time)., our position was checked to reveal that we were 250 nautical miles southeast of the plane crash – approximately 14 hrs steaming time.   Given the vastness of the Pacific Ocean – this made us very close and we were requested to divert immediately.   At 1320 hrs our ship had set course and was on her way to the distress position.   Various relevant information was then passed between Honolulu RCC and P. & O. Nedlloyd Los Angeles to enable our ship to make a successful rescue.   Initially the U.S. Coast Guard reported that one single-engine light aircraft went down with two crewmembers.  

Later they spoke of only one survivor in a raft.    This was worrying for the Captain – where was the other crewmember, were they badly injured, if so, what would be the best method to get these men on board, possible hospitalisation and/or emergency medications required?   Since 2200 hrs the U.S. Coast Guard continually informed our ship of the life rafts exact position.  On board all necessary and possible precautions and checks for this SAR operation were being taken- e.g. rigging extra Suez-lights on the ships bow, testing all search lights, preparation/checking of lifeboats, defining tasks amongst the crew and discussing eventual scenarios with the best possible solutions.   With an ETA (estimated time of arrival) expected after midnight, around 0300 hrs, this makes for difficult circumstances to search for a very small one meter-diameter life raft, in the dark.

At 0100 hrs, October 5th, 2004, Captain Hans Wijntjes, 49 years old with some 30 years sea experience, went to the bridge and took command from the duty officer.   The weather conditions at this time were very poor with a heavy tropical rainfall, lasting approximately an hour reducing visibility to zero.   Extra lookouts were posted on the bridge and preparations of the rescue started in earnest with the pilot door opened and hung the ladder out.   This ladder leaves only a two-meter drop to the water.  Around 0230 hrs the searchlights were put on and fully manned. The U.S. Coast Guard conferred with the Captain on the best possible manner of rescue and what other assistance they could give to the operation in locating the raft.  

At 0239 hrs the U.S. Coast Guard dropped four flares, forming a square.   The life raft was hopefully in the centre.   By this time the weather conditions had cleared enabling the flares to be seen at 3-4 miles out and helped us manoeuvre closer.   Once we were within 2 miles of where we thought the life raft was, the Captain tested the engine by stopping and testing astern, all went well.   We closed in very slowly, guided by the flares and the searchlights sweeping the water.   Finally we saw two life rafts close together, on closer observation we saw that one person was in the closest life raft and to our greatest relief, we saw that he was able to raise his arm and wave.    We concluded then that his condition was possibly not life threatening at that time, he was alive.   Moving dead-slow ahead – our huge ship, at snails pace, the Captain managed to bring the vessel within half a meter of the life raft.   Amazing feat! In Ray’s own words “out of the dark, this huge big hull coming straight at him – this was a frightening moment”.  

A line was thrown from our ship to the survivor and pulled him close to the Pilots door.    He was then asked if he had injuries – negative, was only very weak and exhausted.  Asked if there were other persons involved in the rescue – also negative.   He went down alone. This was wonderful news!   He acknowledged that he was unable to climb the ladder into the hull of the ship, so a crew-member went down into the life raft and attached a safety harness to the survivor whereby he was lifted up into the ship. Time 0344 hrs.    Welcome aboard Raymond Clamback!   The life raft was also taken aboard (shall be returned to the U.S. Coast Guard at a later date).   The Captain contacted U.S. Coast Guard planes that the mission was accomplished and thanked them for their incredible help.   Only then, after requesting if further help was required, did they fly back to base.

There are several heroes to this story.  Ray and the Captain cannot compliment the U.S. Coast Guard enough for their input – without these boys, all concerned are quite certain that Ray would not have been found out there, nor survived, in that huge ocean.   The psychological support once they had found Ray, dropping the life rafts and continually circling him was a first-class operation.     The Honolulu RCC and the U.S. Coast Guard are champions.   Our Captain, Hans, is very modest over his part in these operations, but it was a wonderful rescue coming within hands reach of the life raft and on his first run, as if Hans had been doing this every day of his life!  Compliments to the Captain and to the whole crew P. & O. Nedlloyd Los Angeles.    Well done by all!   Ray, for his part, this polite gentle and quietly spoken giant must be one of the most grateful persons whomever boarded this ship.  Ray himself under-mines his own heroic part by not panicking, logic thought and conserving his energy.    What a happy ending.

Footnote:   At the time of writing this story, Ray is enjoying life at a slower pace on board our ship, heading for Melbourne. Can you believe that Ray is actually contemplating on repeating this performance (without the crash and rescue, of course) – flying two more Cessna 182’s from U.S.A. to Australia?!

Talk about a devil for punishment!

M.C. Steijn-Woodbridge    Wife Chief Engineer J.J. Steijn.

The Boat ride

Ray returned slowly to Melbourne and the day came when he docked.  Lyn meanwhile had been in Melbourne with the new Cessna 182 training pilots how to use the EFIS (Electronic Flight Information System). Another woman pilot came and collected Lyn and they went for a ride to find the container ship.  They circled the ship when it was inside Port Phillip Bay.  Had a good view and some of the crew were on the Bridge waiving to her.  Lyn could see them and Ray.

The next day Boyd Munro flew me(Aminta)  down to Melbourne in his Chieftain and we arrived over the top of the ship after it was docked.  We were late because of security at the gate.  But that was fine – because it meant that Boyd and I did not get tangled up with the press conference that lasted a long long time. All the press seem to ask is “were you frightened of sharks’? ‘What were you thinking when you hit the water’? Rays response is pretty close to saying I will ring up the silly question department – I was fighting to get out of the airplane and working out how to survive in the water. And ‘now Lyn when you were circling overhead how were you feeling?” and so it usually goes on, and on. Always trying to turn the story into an emotional roller coaster hoping that you will break down and cry for them. The Captain of the ship was there too, being questioned and Margaret the wife of the Chief Engineer was looking on.

We met the Captain, Chief Engineer, Margaret and some of the crew.  Looking at the ship and hearing their stories was great. Finally, it was time to say good-bye and go to the airport.  Ray said good-bye to his new friends which took some time and was obviously difficult. We arrived at the airport.  Upon reaching Sydney we were met by a loan camera man who marched the entire length of the airport – hundreds of yards backwards.  I decided that I would keep out of the picture and stayed level with him.  I was fascinated to see if he could keep this up without falling over.  He did – just.  We made a deal with him – if he was going to film us – then could he give us a lift to our car as it was now pouring with rain and it was on the other side of the airport.  It was a deal.

The media frenzy had been extraordinary – Wayne Clamback had dealt with the Sydney end admirably.

Some American friends said the ditching was widely covered there, from Michigan to California to Hawaii.  Another said The New York Times covered the story.  Some cousins in the UK emailed and said he had made the BBC World News. My brother rang in from London, and others from all over the world rang and said they had seen the story on CNN.

In Australia like the USA, it was election time.  Ray displaced the election for one day on the front page of the Sydney Morning Herald?? and had wide coverage for days – in all the papers, radio and television. The news went like wild fire through the Australian Women Pilots Association.    A few wags who know us quite well had some funny stories about Ray and his Australian women.  There was a great deal of concern for Ray throughout Australia and to a degree elsewhere in the world.

Fortunately, most of us have a good sense of humour and our lawyer Bob Benjamin came up with.

Last but not least.

Last but not least the question inevitably is asked – are we going to keeping ferrying?  Personally, I decided about 20 minutes after Ray fell in the water that I would not ferry any new single piston engines again.  The question has to be why relatively low time engines are having trouble.

The United States Coast Guard as usual did an amazingly splendiferous job.  What a service they are and what skill they possess. They told Lyn exactly how they were going to conduct the search, answered all her questions which were many They did not mind her staying they only asked her to climb to 1500 feet until they were established at 500′ then Lyn could come back down to 1000 feet. They were very reassuring.  They asked Lyn a lot of questions about wreckage sightings, known coordinates, equipment that Ray carried. They said they would drop smoke flares where ever they found wreckage and would work their pattern.

The first aircraft was going to stay and search for 4 hours then they would return to Honolulu but before they would leave the next aircraft would take over the search so there was an overlap. This was good.  Lyn finally and reluctantly had to go with the knowledge that as yet they had not found him.