The experienced pilot flying the seaplane that crashed in the waters of Sechelt is thankful everyone survived — and baffled the crash happened at all.
Mark Reichman, a well-known oral surgeon in Vancouver, was behind the controls of the private plane that went down suddenly around 12:45 p.m. Tuesday, about eight kilometres off Davis Bay.
Reichman and the two Vancouver teenage boys riding with him only received minor injuries in the crash, which the pilot still can’t believe.
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“I’m sad it happened, I’m sad for the guys and their families,” he told Global News Thursday. “But I’m happy with the way that it turned out, that nobody got hurt.”
Reichman said he was piloting guests for his daughter’s 18th birthday from Vancouver to the family’s cabin on Ruby Lake, adding he had already made the trip “a few times” earlier that day.
“I can’t tell you how many times I’ve made that trip back and forth,” he said. “But this time the engine failed on us.”
The plane was roughly 1,000 feet in the air when the engine stopped, Reichman said, and they couldn’t get it going again.
“There was a moment of hope where it fired up again, but then it quickly died,” he said. “And then we were seconds from impact.”
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Reichman said the plane “bounced and crashed” on the water but managed to stay upright.
The trouble then quickly turned to how the trio would get out of the plane.
“It was a little scary because the front doors didn’t open,” he said. “I punched through the window. We got one of the doors open enough to slide out with our life jackets on.”
Reichman and the boys sat on top of the plane in the middle of the rough seas, waiting for someone to answer his distress signal and come to their aid.
Then the plane sank.
“It was a little lonely out in the ocean., bobbing around and cold,” he said. “It was pretty surreal, only because the ocean was pretty rough. The horizon was the next wave over. And then they saw us.”
A Ledcor tugboat was nearby and able to rescue the occupants, who were transferred to a Coast Guard hovercraft, the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre (JRCC) confirmed Tuesday.
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“They served us coffee on the tugboat and gave us blankets,” Reichman said. “I was happy to see them. I think they were glad to see us.”
Reichman praised his teenage passengers for keeping their cool throughout the frightening ordeal, and is just thankful they’re safe.
“Their parents are extraordinarily proud,” he said. “They were at their best. They were cool, calm and collected — they listened.
“It’s a responsibility that every pilot feels — you’re taking somebody else’s family with you. I’m just happy it all worked out okay. The kids are good.”
The families did not make themselves or the teens available for interviews.
The Transportation Safety Board is continuing to investigate the crash, but has concluded for now that engine failure was the cause.
The plane itself is now out of commission, which Reichman says is a tough adjustment but one he’ll accept, knowing everyone survived.
— With files from Sarah MacDonald and Simon Little
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