Three people survived after two small planes collided over
One of them, a single-engine American Champion, landed
safely at a nearby airstrip in
The two people on board, pilot and his mother in her 70s, clung
to the plane until it sank and were saved by boaters, Williams said. His mother
was intensively suffering from hypothermia when they arrived at a local
hospital. Their identities were not released by the local hospital, but both of
them were fine according to the doctors dealing with their case.
An official from Tacoma Fire Department said that the two
had stayed in the water for only a few minutes when the boaters came to save
them.
"I don't think they would have made it had that fishing boat not been there. Those guys on that boat, they're the heroes," said chef Chris King, of Katie Downs Waterfront Tavern & Eatery.
The other plane, a single-engine Cessna 182 landed at Thun
Field in Puyallup, about 10 miles southeast of Tacoma, with a damage to its
landing gear, according to Federal Aviation Administration spokesperson Allen
Kenitzer. His pilot, Bud Williams said he was heading home to the
"Came out of my right side, which is out of my blind spot, and I just had a chance to pull up before we hit. It was quite a hard hit. My first reaction was, 'Where's the other plane?'" he told KOMO-TV.
The pilot was not seriously injured and the plane appeared in good shape
after the incident, Bruce Thun, operations manager of the