Passengers Rescued From Sea Plane That Landed In East River
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – A sea plane became stuck -- partly under water -- in the East River, and 10 people had to be rescued on Friday afternoon.
As CBS2's Valerie Castro reported, a sea plan on the water in the East River wouldn't be too terribly strange, if it didn't end with a wing submerged in the water.
Police said it tried and failed to take off three times on its way to the Hamptons.
"The plane tried to take off a couple of times, went up in the air a little, came down, went up a little higher, came down, thought he had it at like twenty or so feet in the air, came down hard," Bill Lawrence said.
The third time it came down it fractured three struts on the left side, causing the plane to list.
One woman on a different plane watched the situation from the air.
"We were on the plane right behind them with a small child, so it's a little nerve-wracking," Bettina Glenning said.
Chopper 2 was overhead as the pilot and nine passengers were evacuated onto a pontoon.
Lawrence was on board with his daughter.
"It went from everybody being very scared, and very supportive, and helping each other, and once people realized they were going to be okay, the amount of cell phones and social media from both bats passing and people waiting to be picked up was pretty hysterical," he said.
Daughter Charlotte posted video to social media with the caption 'was in my first plane crash' and 'bye plane.'
"No one was really talking, everyone was just like, 'what do we do now?" passenger Kendall said.
Emergency crews arrived in minutes to carry everyone away, while another boat hauled the plane.
Everyone got off safely with no injuries.
Lawrence said he'll wait another day to head out to the Hamptons.
"I'm not going tonight, I'm gonna go have a glass of tequila somewhere," he said.
Tailwind Air, LLC released a statement Friday, regarding the 'aborted takeoff.'
"We're grateful that no one was seriously injured in today's incident," said Tailwind President Shane Reynolds. "Normal operations have resumed and no system interruptions are expected."
