Sailor Came To Missionary Pilots' Rescue

A good Samaritan with a sailboat came to the rescue of two missionary pilots heading to Florida, when their Cessna 208 Caravan ditched in the ocean near the Bahamas Thursday.

The South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports pastor Rocky Miller and his co-pilot, Paolo Costa, were returning to Florida after dropping off supplies in the Dominican Republic. The men, working for the Agape Flights missionary organization, planned to stop at Palm Beach International to clear Customs, before returning home to Venice, FL.

The men's plane had other plans, however. "They were just off the coast of Andros when they had an engine failure," said group spokesman John Nielsen.

Controllers at Miami Center notified the US Coast Guard when they saw the Caravan drop from radar at about 1700 EST Thursday. The Coast Guard deployed a Falcon jet and rescue helicopter to sweep the area where the plane went down.

The search was soon called off, though, for the best of reasons: the men had already been rescued by the sailboat Impetuous, and were taken to a nearby cay. As of Friday, both men were making plans to return home.

IDENTIFICATION
  Regis#: 954PA        Make/Model: C208      Description: 208 Caravan 1, (Super)Cargomaster, Grand
  Date: 12/20/2007     Time: 2200

  Event Type: Incident   Highest Injury: None     Mid Air: N    Missing: N
  Damage: Unknown

LOCATION

DESCRIPTION
  AIRCRAFT LOST ENGINE POWER AND DITCHED INTO THE WATER, 25 MILES SOUTH OF
  GRAND BAHAMAS

INJURY DATA      Total Fatal:   0
                 # Crew:   2     Fat:   0     Ser:   0     Min:   0     Unk:   
                 # Pass:   0     Fat:   0     Ser:   0     Min:   0     Unk:   
                 # Grnd:         Fat:   0     Ser:   0     Min:   0     Unk:   

WEATHER: NOT REPORTED

OTHER DATA
  Activity: Unknown      Phase: Unknown      Operation: OTHER

  FAA FSDO: MIAMI, FL  (S019)                     Entry date: 12/21/2007

FMI: www.faa.gov, www.agapeflights.com/