Hearing Mayday Call

jheyen

jheyen

Pre-Flight
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Aug 6, 2014
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Springfield, IL
Display Name
heyen
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KSPI
This weekend I was flying from Tallahassee to Orlando Saturday night and was with Jax Center when I heard two mayday calls from a plane along with a final transmission from the pilot referencing his touchdown in the water. Jax center confirmed with me what they had heard as well and asked me to take a look, as long as I had enough fuel. I did have some extra so I went over to their last radar return to take a look. It was humid, hazy and very dark. I circled several times to see if I could see any lights and made some calls per Jax center, but could not see or hear anything. I was glad that I had autopilot as it was nearly impossible to see any lights or horizon.

This was quite a sobering experience as a pilot in the air at the same time as another pilot in distress. I couldn't find much online about it at this point as it's fairly early, but I'm certainly going to be watching the results of this investigation. Here's a couple of links.

www.wctv.tv

‘Experimental, homebuilt’ plane goes down in Wakulla County over the weekend, leaves one dead

The National Transportation Safety Board is currently investigating a plane crash that happened over the weekend in Wakulla County.
www.wctv.tv www.wctv.tv

I'm not familiar with the equipment on these planes and if they typically have autopilots or not.

RIP Mr. Clementi
 
I am sorry you had to go through that. I heard this accident take place and have always wondered if there was something I could have said over the radio to make a difference.

RIP to Mr. Clementi
 
Looks like he was trying to turn back to Wakulla.

That's an area without a lot of options if you have engine trouble. At night makes it worse.
 
jheyen said:
This weekend I was flying from Tallahassee to Orlando Saturday night and was with Jax Center when I heard two mayday calls from a plane along with a final transmission from the pilot referencing his touchdown in the water. Jax center confirmed with me what they had heard as well and asked me to take a look, as long as I had enough fuel. I did have some extra so I went over to their last radar return to take a look. It was humid, hazy and very dark. I circled several times to see if I could see any lights and made some calls per Jax center, but could not see or hear anything. I was glad that I had autopilot as it was nearly impossible to see any lights or horizon.

This was quite a sobering experience as a pilot in the air at the same time as another pilot in distress. I couldn't find much online about it at this point as it's fairly early, but I'm certainly going to be watching the results of this investigation. Here's a couple of links.

www.wctv.tv

‘Experimental, homebuilt’ plane goes down in Wakulla County over the weekend, leaves one dead

The National Transportation Safety Board is currently investigating a plane crash that happened over the weekend in Wakulla County.
www.wctv.tv www.wctv.tv

I'm not familiar with the equipment on these planes and if they typically have autopilots or not.

RIP Mr. Clementi
Click to expand...
jheyen,
I was a friend of Frank Clementi. He was returning to Zephyrhills (KZPH) after visiting his son who is a Lt. Col. at Elgin AFB. We were waiting for Franks arrival Saturday night. Frank has flown this trip many times and always contacts JAX for flight following. He did have an autopilot on board his Glasair.
You stated that you heard two mayday calls and a call referencing his touchdown in the water. Could you please tell me what you heard? Please feel free to email me directly with your response. Thank you for helping Frank. [email protected]
 
Very sad. R.I.P. And thanks to the OP for the assist.
 
Looks like about a 35 mile stretch across water, on a ~330 mile trip (assuming he was going to back to Zephyrhills). What bad timing to have engine issues.
 
jheyen said:
This weekend I was flying from Tallahassee to Orlando Saturday night and was with Jax Center when I heard two mayday calls from a plane along with a final transmission from the pilot referencing his touchdown in the water.
Click to expand...
Nearly 50 years ago I heard a pilot's last transmissions on my scanner at home. That memory never goes away. ;(
 
Kyle N said:
Looks like about a 35 mile stretch across water, on a ~330 mile trip (assuming he was going to back to Zephyrhills). What bad timing to have engine issues.
Click to expand...
I've flown over the area more times than I can count. One of the few places where being over water may be better than being over land. Until you get well over 20nm inland, it's all swamp and pine trees.
 
I'm glad you planned well enough to have extra fuel to help, that you helped, and that you got back safe.
 
I had just cleared GYY's airspace and was still on their tower frequency when I heard the Legend Cub report it was going down in Lake Michigan. I was going to turn back but another aircraft reported in closer. One of occupants (the owner) drowned after a successful ditching.

I've heard a couple of other distress calls that were handled successfully.
 
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