Small Plane Crashes Into The Hudson River In Yonkers NY Part 01 Of 03

Two New Jersey pilots on a sight-seeing tour of Manhattan were lucky to be alive yesterday after they crash-landed their sputtering single-engine plane in the icy waters of the Hudson River and were pulled to safety by the NYPD and the U.S. Coast Guard.
The dramatic late-morning rescue, broadcast by national cable news networks, took less than five minutes once authorities hit the 40-degree water, so cold it had rendered pilot John Eberle, 43, virtually motionless.
"He was very lethargic," said Officer Liam Devine, an NYPD diver. "He wasn't moving around too much. When I swam up to him he didn't try to grab me. He didn't try to hold onto me. Normally, people in the water, that's what they do, so I knew he was in bad condition."
Eberle and his student, co-pilot Mark Sorey, 44, who was pulled to safety after grabbing hold of a rescue basket lowered from a Coast Guard helicopter, were treated at Jacobi Medical Center for hypothermia and were expected to make full recoveries.
"They really thanked us," said Officer John Mortimer. "That's what you like to hear."
The Yonkers Police Department, which was involved in the incident because the plane crashed 50 yards off its shoreline, said the pilots are alive because rescuers were quick to the scene, getting there in less than 15 minutes.
"NYPD Harbor and Coast Guard, you really have to give them a lot of credit," said Yonkers Capt. Frank Massar. "Survival depends on the speed with which they got here and got in the water."
The National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the cause of the crash
THE PLANE
Piper PA-28-161
"Warrior"
Seating: 4 maximum
Length: 24 feet
Height: 7 feet
Wingspan: 35 feet
Range: 740 miles with reserves
January 2, 2006
Part 01 Of 03

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News & Politics

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