Engine failure forced pilot to land at sea

A light aircraft pilot rescued after ocean rowers watched him safely ditch his new plane in the Irish Sea was forced down by engine failure.

John O’Shaughnessy executed a ’belly land’ in waters off Tuskar Rock while flying his two-seater from Wales to an airstrip in Wexford.

After the near textbook sea landing, the 53-year-old clambered out of the cockpit on to a wing of the Avid Speedwing and waited to be airlifted to safety.

Air accident investigators found the engine had stopped without warning.

A four-man crew on the British Orchid rowing boat were trying to set a new round Britain record when one of them saw the dramatic ditching.

The others initially dismissed the extraordinary sighting as nothing more than a diving seagull.

They rowed to Mr O’Shaughnessy, who had put on a survival suit before getting into the plane in Haverfordwest, and waited near him until a Coast Guard helicopter arrived on scene.

The aircraft had been flown for 243 hours before the accident and the pilot had 152 hours flying time and was fully licensed.

Mr O’Shaughnessy had only flown the plane once – six months earlier – before attempting the trip across the Irish Sea to an airfield run by the Society of Amateur Aircraft Constructors (SAAC), near Taghmon village.

Air accident investigators said: “The actual ditching was successfully carried out by the pilot, despite the fact that he was not particularly familiar with the aircraft.”

They said he should have submitted a flight plan.

Their report found the engine stopped after 55 minutes in the air and probably due to fuel starvation relating to a fuel-vapour related problem.

Investigators assessed damage to the plane after it was towed to Carna beach in Wexford and found it substantially intact but water damage made it too costly to repair.

Both wings were damaged but virtually intact, the nose cone had been ripped off and landing gear badly impacted in the landing, on relatively calm sea.

US Airlines pilot Chesley B “Sully” Sullenberger safely landed a packed jet in the ice cold Hudson River in New York in January. All 155 passengers that day were safely rescued.