Be 30 Rescue

Glad all survived the ditching. Wonder if the DOD will send the Bahamas a bill for professional services? Write it off for training? Or consider it a no-charge humanitarian mission?
 
Besides the "it ain't got no gas in it" meme, I wonder what else could've caused a King Air 300 to double flame out.
 
One story circulating is the aircraft had deviated significantly from its planned course due to thunderstorms, then probably ran out of fuel. The flight was from Marsh Harbor to Grand Bahama, yet crashed all the way up by Melbourne, FL.
 
How in the heck do you end up near Melbourne Florida when you are going from Marsh Harbor to Grand Bahama? I have thousands of hours in King Airs and ONE PT-6 taking a poop is rare enough. No way do you loose both engines....someone ran out of fuel. He's lucky the Bahamians aren't conducting an investigation.
 
I mean, I took a seagull through one and it kept runnin'. Those things are frikkin' bulletproof.
 
Todd82 said:
Besides the "it ain't got no gas in it" meme, I wonder what else could've caused a King Air 300 to double flame out.
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More than one aircraft has ditched in the ~200 miles between the Bahamas and the Florida coast after being parked overnight, having the fuel stolen, and apparently not being dipped before takeoff.
 
I think they were using the plane for charter in the Bahahmas. It had previously made runs between Nassau and Freeport.
 
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On Tuesday, during what should have been a routine 20-minute flight between two islands in the Bahamas, Nixon watched one disaster unfold after another - first the navigation system, then the radio, then one engine, and finally the other.

"I wasn't able to reach anybody on the radio for a while," Nixon said. "I tried to call Freeport, [Bahamas]; I tried to call Miami radio. I don't know if they were hearing me, but I didn't get a response," Nixon told CBS News, the BBC's US news partner.
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Hmm....
 
Something smells, I have flown this short hop several times and this time of year it is hard to believe a storm pushed you out in that direction & distance. As some on said it sounds like a smuggling flight.
 
Thank God Marines to the rescue!

tribunemedia.net

#PLANE crash survivor Olympia Outten wept yesterday as she recalled how she feared all 11 people aboard would die after their light aircraft nose-dived into the ocean after both engines failed in stormy conditions on an election day flight from Abaco to Grand Bahama.

#The Grand Bahama resident, who is unable to swim and is terrified of sharks, described her terror at having to jump from the stricken aircraft into a ‘black sea,’ before being helped to scramble on to one of the wings of the downed Beechcraft King Air 300 twin-prop plane.

#“We thought we was going to die,” Ms Outten said.

#A number of passengers were injured as the plane landed 80 miles off the Florida coast, and one was reported to have suffered a heart attack. They and the pilot then drifted in life rafts in open water for five hours before being rescued by the crew a US military helicopter which was in the area on a training exercise.

#Pilot Ian Nixon reportedly declared an emergency with air traffic control before communication was lost, triggering a search and rescue operation that initially located eight occupants before the others were found.

#Ms Outten, who was travelling with her two sons and niece so they could return home to vote in the general election, described the rescue as a “miracle”.

#She said the 20-minute flight turned into a fight for survival after her niece noticed the engines and propellers stopping mid-flight.

#“He lowered the plane down, and the gentleman told him to turn the mouth down to go down to the sea,” Ms Outten said.

#“When he turned the mouth down and when he came down, my son was to the emergency door and the next gentleman was to the exit door and the same time when the plane hit the water he said ‘open’, and I told my son ‘open, open, open’ and when they opened all we heard was ‘bam’ and when we heard bam that’s when the door come off and it hit the gentleman in his chest.”

#Ms Outten said she was slammed against the wall during impact and became trapped by a stuck seatbelt before her son helped free her.

#Speaking with Florida Today, Ms Outten, 46, became emotional as she described the moments after she escaped the sinking aircraft.

#“When I went to the door, I stand still to the door because I thought we were gonna die because all I saw was loon dark water around us,” she said.

#“My niece, she was on the way, and she said ‘auntie, swim,’ I told her I can’t swim.”

#Ms Outten said her niece coached her through the water, telling her how to move her legs to stay afloat.

#Survivors initially clung to the aircraft wing before boarding a life raft and drifting in rough conditions while waiting to be rescued.

#“We were out there for five hours, we were in a little storm, rain beating on us, we thought no one would see us,” she said.

#“But I thank God the US Marines, they saw us and they saved us.”

Patrick Air Force Base runs a tight operation I’m told.
 
Also just read an article where a survivor said the pilot stated that they were low on fuel. Hummmmmm. No way TWO PT-6's take a poo. Nope nope nope.
 
RadialGal said:
Also just read an article where a survivor said the pilot stated that they were low on fuel. Hummmmmm. No way TWO PT-6's take a poo. Nope nope nope.
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Entirely plausible. First they were low on fuel, then they were low on altitude, and finally they were low on buoyancy. A tender yet gripping tale of the ruthless nature of physics.

When asked for comment, Mr. Nixon replied, “I am not a crook.”
 
RadialGal said:
Also just read an article where a survivor said the pilot stated that they were low on fuel. Hummmmmm. No way TWO PT-6's take a poo. Nope nope nope.
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Learned long ago that in a atv truck tractor airplane if you keep the fuel clean and keep enough in it that solves a lot of problems.
 
“ I told my son ‘open, open, open’ and when they opened all we heard was ‘bam’ and when we heard bam that’s when the door come off and it hit the gentleman in his chest.”

Sounds like the cabin was at negative pressure? Is that possible on a King Air and does it have ditching valves or procedures?
 
Yeah, sounding more suspicious already. After losing his FAA license for life after getting caught running drugs and doing time in a Federal Prison, he obtained a Bahamian flying license and access to secured airport areas in the Bahamas.

The luster of his media anointed hero status may become a little tarnished if it is determined he ran it out of fuel. And really tarnished if the intent of the flight had anything to do with smuggling drugs, humans, or something else that’s illegal.
 
Yeah, but there are these amazing things called fuel gauges. In a skymaster you can also dip your tanks (I always did...I was the victim of fuel theft years ago, so I always check). In the King Air, the fuel gauges rarley go bad, like the PT-6 they are pretty darn bulletproof.
 
Drug smuggling was going on.

The flight was dirty from the get-go
 
This is an interesting little saga with a sordid plot twist.
RadialGal said:
I mean, I took a seagull through one and it kept runnin'. Those things are frikkin' bulletproof.
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This, too, is interesting. How did a seagull make it past the intake screen and into the compressor?
 
RadialGal said:
Yeah, but there are these amazing things called fuel gauges. In a skymaster you can also dip your tanks (I always did...I was the victim of fuel theft years ago, so I always check). In the King Air, the fuel gauges rarley go bad, like the PT-6 they are pretty darn bulletproof.
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AZEL said:
More than one aircraft has ditched in the ~200 miles between the Bahamas and the Florida coast after being parked overnight, having the fuel stolen, and apparently not being dipped before takeoff.
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As for the seagull, I had the ice vanes open, and he sailed straight on through. Never touched the prop somehow as well. I hit 6 of 'em on the flare, they were sleeping on the warm runway and it was a 200 and a 1/2 approach. Fun stuff.
 
AZEL said:
More than one aircraft has ditched in the ~200 miles between the Bahamas and the Florida coast after being parked overnight, having the fuel stolen, and apparently not being dipped before takeoff.
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Too bad people don’t preflight properly.
 
MauleSkinner said:
Too bad people don’t preflight properly.
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I've seen so many F.O's on the line do what I like to call the "run around." Lord, #2 could be missing and they'd never catch it. Many moons ago when I was a CFI, I'd hide post it notes on the plane that said something along the lines of ('cotter pin missing', or 'bolt sheared'). They were always VERY noticeable if a legit preflight was conducted. Caught a few students that way.
 
RadialGal said:
I've seen so many F.O's on the line do what I like to call the "run around." Lord, #2 could be missing and they'd never catch it. Many moons ago when I was a CFI, I'd hide post it notes on the plane that said something along the lines of ('cotter pin missing', or 'bolt sheared'). They were always VERY noticeable if a legit preflight was conducted. Caught a few students that way.
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I don’t profess to be the World’s Greatest Preflighter, but knowing my fuel level is non-negotiable.

I’ve had some copilots on both ends of the spectrum… “I don’t preflight paperwork” when I discovered that she and another captain flew the airplane for a month after it came back from maintenance without AFM, POM, Airworthiness certificate, Registration certificate, and a couple other documents.

On the other end, one guy opened the gear doors and discovered that maintenance hadn’t connected the cables for the alternate gear extension controls.
 
RadialGal said:
As for the seagull, I had the ice vanes open, and he sailed straight on through. Never touched the prop somehow as well. I hit 6 of 'em on the flare, they were sleeping on the warm runway and it was a 200 and a 1/2 approach. Fun stuff.
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Guess I’d better stop sleeping on the runway.

When you said “I mean, I took a seagull through one and it kept runnin'” I imagined a bird going through an engine, not through a nacelle. PT6 says, better to dodge a punch than to take it on the chin.
 
Should of stayed in life raft.

“Jonathan Eric Gardiner, a passenger on a Bahamian charter plane that crashed in the ocean off the coast of Florida on May 12, 2026, was arrested by U.S. law enforcement and charged with cocaine importation”
 
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bonefishpete said:
Should of stayed in life raft.

“Jonathan Eric Gardiner, a passenger on a Bahamian charter plane that crashed in the ocean off the coast of Florida on May 12, 2026, was arrested by U.S. law enforcement and charged with cocaine importation”
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Looks like he wasn’t arrested for activity on this particular flight, but was already in their crosshairs for the last couple years as part of an ongoing case.
 
Yeah, I have a Bird magnet. I've clocked those 6 Seagulls, an Eagle, an Egret and several smallish birds. No idea why I attract 'em. BTW, this story has gotten real quiet all of a sudden. Hero, eh?
 
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