Sea Flight Makes Emergency Landing Off King Airport

A small plane carrying passengers from St. Thomas to St. Croix was forced to make an emergency landing in waters off King Airport shortly after takeoff Thursday morning.

None of the seven passengers or the pilot onboard the 8:50 a.m. Sea Flight plane was injured. All were eventually transported to safety via a U.S. Coast Guard rescue boat to a dock area at the University of the Virgin Islands, St. Thomas campus.

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The aircraft, a small commercial seaplane built to accommodate sea landings, was scheduled to land at Rohlsen Airport 20 minutes after takeoff from King Airport. Instead, the 911 Emergency Call Center received reports of the emergency landing at 9:09 a.m. and the Coast Guard responded to the location about two miles off of St. Thomas.

The pilot, Paul Everrett, was lauded by Sea Flight chief pilot and training officer Cleo Hodge as well as Gov. Albert Bryan Jr. for landing the plane safely. Hodge told The Daily News on Thursday that Everrett is a skilled pilot and that Everrett gone through emergency landing techniques with him in the area just last week.

“I think it was very efficient. Of course it starts with the captain,” Hodge said of the landing. “He did an excellent job.”

He added that the waters off the airport were “a little rough” at the time of the landing and that the entire rescue took about 30 to 45 minutes.

“It was pretty quick,” Hodge said.

The Coast Guard worked with local salvage companies, which dispatched two private vessels including a Sea Tow vessel that hauled the plane back to the island, according to Luis Cabrera, chief supervisor of the U.S. Coast Guard Boat Forces on St. Thomas.

Hodge said an investigation into what led the pilot to perform the emergency landing is underway and that representatives from the Federal Aviation Administration will begin their probe today. “We can’t even touch the aircraft until the FAA conducts the investigation,” Hodge said. “Then we’ll have a pretty good understanding of what happened.”

Most residents learned of the emergency landing through an automated alert sent via text message, and which noted that the passengers would be transported to St. Thomas for “further evaluation by emergency personnel.”

The passengers were “fine” after being evaluated by emergency medical technicians at the dock and “no one was taken to the hospital,” Hodge said.

“A couple of the passengers were already ready to get back,” he added, saying that some had already returned to St. Croix via a private charter flight. Sea Flight halted service for the day and is expected to resume its flight schedule today.

Hodge said this was the first time a Sea Flight pilot had to perform an emergency landing.

Shortly after news spread of the emergency landing and eventual rescue, Bryan issued a statement lauding pilot’s skills and the assistance from emergency responders, and wished the passengers well given what he said must have been a “traumatic experience.”

“Being involved in an aviation incident is a traumatic experience,” Bryan said. “Our thoughts this morning are with the seven passengers and crew of flight 394SF, and with their loved ones. We are especially grateful for the heroic efforts of the pilot for safely landing the aircraft and for the swift response of our first responders and that of the members of the St. Thomas boating community.”

Along with the private boats, the Coast Guard, V.I. Health Department’s Emergency Medical Services, V.I. Police Department, V.I. Fire Service and the Department of Planning and Natural Resources assisted with the rescue.

— Contact Brandy Brookes at 340-714-9131 or email [email protected].

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©2020 The Virgin Islands Daily News (St. Thomas, VIR)

Visit The Virgin Islands Daily News (St. Thomas, VIR) at www.virginislandsdailynews.com

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