Mr. Johansson performed a gear up, full flap landing at an angle to the direction of the ocean swells, roughly into the wind. The swells were about 5 to 10 ft high with 20 ft between the crests. The airplane touched a crest with the tail, then it impacted the next crest with the tail first. He held back pressure on the control column as the airplane settled into the water. Ocean spray never hit the window screen. He had Ms. Michaels finish securing the airplane as he went to the cabin and opened the right over wing exit. He deployed the raft and put the survival pack in it. They had a satellite phone, and marine VHF radio, and PLB/EPIRB, and life raft ELT, thermal blankets, food, and water. He was wearing shorts and a short sleeved shirt because he wanted to be comfortable for the long flights. Ms. Michaels entered the raft. The airplane stayed upright floating on the surface. They pushed away from the airplane and it stayed insight for about 30 minutes. He was not sure if it sunk or they travelled too far to see it. His satellite phone (Iridium Go model) had limited calling capability, but he was able to text through his connected mobile phone. He called Oakland Center and asked for a telephone number to text to for rescue purposes. He then coordinated via text until the unit died during the night for unknown reasons, possibly water damage.
About 4 to 5 hours later, during the night, a USCG C-130 was overhead, and they coordinated with a nearby oil tanker M/V Ariel on channel 16. Mr. Johansson was unable to transmit on the radio which was equipped with Digital Selective Calling (DSC). The use of the SOS DSC function earlier on had depleted the battery on the VHF such that no transmissions could be made, but they could hear nearby radio traffic on VHF 16. The M/V Ariel made multiple fast passes by the raft, and sometimes looked like it would hit the raft, and threw down lines for them to grab. Mr. Johansson and Ms. Michaels could not grab the lines due to the speed. The ocean waves and wind were getting worse. Mr. Johansson signaled to the Ariel that
they did not want any more attempts until sunrise. He crossed his arms across his chest. It was too dangerous.
He closed up the top cover of the raft and they waited for the USCG to come. The waves and wind became worse and occasionally waves went over the raft, but they never overturned. The raft was covered and had a good sea anchor which provided much needed stability. After a while, the ocean calmed down. They heard a loud horn, opened up the cover and saw the M/V Ariel coming straight for the raft. Mr. Johansson was able to source two new out of the 6 required AAA batteries for the VHF radio. It gave him just enough power to make one transmission: “Ariel this is the life raft. Thank you for your attempts but they are too dangerous, we prefer to wait for USCG assistance.” The Ariel called the raft on channel 16 and said that the USCG was not coming and that the Ariel was their only hope at rescue, “follow our directions.” This was very upsetting to Mr. Johansson because the previous attempts were very dangerous. The weather conditions were getting worse, again, but at least it was daytime. They were able to catch a line and tie the raft to it, then the crew yelled down for them to “jump, jump!” Both Mr. Johansson and Ms. Michaels jumped onto lines being held by boat crew members, but instead of being pulled up, they were dragged through the ocean as the ship motored forward. He saw Ms. Michaels being dragged under the water and he was losing his breath struggling. The lines were not pulled in by the crew, so Mr. Johansson let go and was able to get back in the raft and help Ms. Michaels back into the raft. Another ship, the container ship M/V Horizon Reliance, was also in the area, and they offered to try because they had done rescues before. That ship stopped and maneuvered slowly to the raft with it on the leeward side of the ship. When it became close, the crew shot rope cannons at them and they were able to pull on them to get to the ship’s side while it was stopped in the water. They were assisted into the ship and delivered to Hawaii a few days later. They had been in the survival raft for 22 hours. Mr. Johansson was very grateful to be alive.
When asked what he thought may have caused the engine flameout or the failed restart, Mr. Johansson suggested that perhaps air, debris, or ice was introduced into the fuel line, and the system did not have a fuel/air separator. Or perhaps when the ferry transfer was closed the main fuel tank lines did not properly re-supply the engine. Also, there was no manual override of the engine controls and start sequence. They could not see what the electronic system was doing and could not override it at all. He stated that the simulator training that they did before the flight was very helpful, but he wished they had provided an EPECS failure scenario.
11 Survival, Search and Rescue
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