It isn’t Sully Sullenberger with U.S. Airways, but it’s still pretty amazing. Watch this video from the U.S. Coast Guard as a pilot lands his plane on the water.
Here’s the backstory:
A 65-year-old man was flying from California to Hawaii Friday afternoon when he noticed he was running low on fuel.
He contacted the federal aviation authorities and informed them that he was 500 miles from the Big Island and estimated that he’d run out of fuel around 100 miles short of his destination.
The Coast Guard took action and deployed two aircraft, one military transport plane and one helicopter, to help guide the distressed pilot to a safe landing, but 13 miles from land, the small plane completely ran out of gas. The plane was going down, and there wasn’t anything anyone could do about it.
With the help of the Coast Gaurd, the pilot guided his six-seat, twin-engine aircraft into the choppy Pacific Ocean and when his plane hit the water, he calmly climbed out the cockpit window and onto the wing. Rescue workers then plucked him from the ocean and transported him to a hospital in Hilo, Hawaii. And get this: The pilot was coherent and had no significant injuries.