PS. IT WASN’T A CRASH.
It was a belly-landing in water. There’s too much hype and too much conjecture - because of the poor quality of the reporting, contradictions and hyperbole.
IMHO
Yeah, I think you’re right about that. They call it a crash but it’s more of an incident than a crash. That plane in the photo looks to be in pretty good shape.
And the photo looks to have been taken very shortly after the plane hit the water. That pilot may have seen the whole thing take place. Kawasaki talked about seeing that plane and knowing help should be arriving in about 1/2 hour. But some reports yesterday were trying to say it took 1 1/2 hours for help to get there. We know that’s not true because the incident was reported in the media less than an hour after the plane’s take-off. So why are they trying to make it seem like the victims were in the water longer than they were?
The reports talked about a military plane doing touch-and-go’s reporting the downed plane to the air tower. That’s presumably not this guy who took that photo, who was out for a joy-ride with his girlfriend in his private plane which then apparently hovered overhead until it was all over. So when did the military plane arrive and lay down the smoke flares (sorry I’m butchering the terminology)? What were the 6 aircraft that were in danger of running into each other during the rescue operation?
Another question I have. The survivors drifted apart, but it sounded like they were drifting farther out to sea. Am I understanding that correctly? If so, why would that happen? The tides should have pulled them in towards shore if anything, right?