Saturday, January 17, 2009

Hello, Blogland!

I've been wanting to write a blog since I started reading them daily about 6 months ago, but where do I start?  How about a story...

My husband and I experienced a plane ditching in Hawaii in 1991.  The details came flooding back (so to speak) as I watched the news coverage of the USAir accident in NYC this week.  We were in Oahu for a few days while Bill worked on a submarine antenna.  I wanted to fly over the volcano on the Big Island because I was a geology major.  We joined a tour 
group with 8 other passengers and boarded a hot pink Beechcraft.  The first half of the flight was quite enjoyable.  Then the left prop engine stopped.  Well, OK.  We've still got the other one and only 30 miles to Hilo.  But it was too much for the little engine to handle.  We were losing altitude.  Our pilot chose to ditch in Hilo Bay, rather than risk crashing into the tall palm trees at the end of the runway, less than a mile away.  The plane floated long enough for everyone to get out.  Then the nose filled with water and the plane was gone.  We were scooped out of the bay by local fishermen.  The only minor injury was a broken nose.  The NTSB investigators told us that our very experienced pilot saved our lives.  Sound familiar?

Oh, yeah!  The reason I have a photo of the pink wing is that I finished a roll of film on the flight and changed rolls.  I put the exposed roll into the plastic container.  Remember those?  Anyway, after the plane sunk, things started floating out.  We used fishing nets to scoop stuff up and I got my film!  

I know this has nothing to do with quilting or crafting or Girl Scouts.  The other stuff is my everyday life.  I'll get to that soon.

Ciao,
Tina


3 comments:

Stacey said...

That is an awesome story! So glad your here to tell it and the picture really adds to it. Thanks for sharing!

Karen said...

Welcome to blogland Tina!

simple country living! said...

Hey Tina! I'm thankful that you survived this ordeal you talk about because I now have you as a friend! I am also sorry that you have such a tragic ordeal as a memory of Hawai'i, but hopefully you will someday return to my beautiful Hawai'i nei!
Blessings & hugs!
Leona