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yards from beachgoers on
Oahu's North Shore. Good
evening, I'm Paula Akana.
And I'm Kenny Choi, in
for Yunji de Nies.
The pilot of a
single-engine plane
landed in the water at
about 11:15 this
afternoon as he tried to
make his way back to
Dillingham Airfield.
Needless to say, it was a
close call... and a
head-turner! KITV4's
Andrew Pereira has out
top story... Andrew?
Kenny and Paula, the
owner of the airplane
says just minutes before
the plane went down, the
pilot was towing a glider
with her husband and a
student inside.
32-37 37-44 52-100
SUZY GROMACKI: "THEY
PROBABLY WOULD'VE ALL
BEEN KILLED. SO, I THANK
THE LORD FOR THAT." Suzy
Gromacki has good reason
to be thankful even
though her
Piper Pawnee airplane is
waterlogged and out of
commission. The
unidentified pilot was
towing a glider with a
student at the controls
and her husband
supervising from the
glider's backseat. That's
when Gromacki says the
single-engine plane ran
out of gas near Ka'ena
Point. The pilot hit
the water just a few
yards from beachgoers
while trying to reach the
landing strip at
Dillingham Airfield.
SUZY GROMACKI: "HE DIDN'T
LAND ON THE SAND FOR THE
SIMPLE REASON THERE WAS
PEOPLE AND HE DIDN'T WANT
TO HURT ANYBODY."
HOWARD NAONE: "HE DID A
GOOD JOB GETTING IT TO
THE WATER AND AVOIDING
ANY INJURIES RIGHT NOW.
SO, WE'RE PRETTY THANKFUL
FOR THAT." Beachgoer Tom
Poulos was reading a
good book when 12,000
pounds of non-fiction
came swooping in.
TOM POULOS: "I HEARD SOME
PEOPLE YELLING THAT THE
PLANE WAS COMING DOWN. I
LOOKED DOWN THE BEACH AND
IT WAS ABOUT MAYBE 40
FEET ABOVE THE WATER. AND
JUST GLIDE IN AND HIT THE
WATER AND THAT WAS IT."
Gromacki says it could've
been disaster if the
engine quit when the
glider plane was still
attached by a tow rope.
Luckily, the glider with
her husband and a student
inside, had already been
released.
SUZY GROMACKI: "I'M GLAD
THAT HE RELEASED AT
2,500 FEET BECAUSE I
WOULDN'T OF WANTED TO
VISUALIZE WHAT WOULD'VE
HAPPENED IF THAT
GLIDER... IF HE RAN OUT
OF FUEL AND THE GLIDER BE
OFF... BE STILL
ATTACHED." But with her
only plane now grounded
and rents at Dillingham
Airfield going up,
Gromacki says her
business, North Shore
Aircraft Leasing, is
living on barrowed time.
SUZY GROMACKI: "TODAY I
WAS SUPPOSED TO HAVE A
STUDENT AT THREE O'CLOCK.
I HAVE NO TOW PLANE TO DO
IT."
The airplane was built in
1969 and received its
most recent air
worthiness certificate in
September 2011. Gromacki
says the pilot has a lot
of experience, but didn't
want to talk to us about