Was ferrying one of two Cessna 182s from Hilo to American Samoa

An Australian pilot ferrying one of two C182's from Hilo (HI) to Pago Pago in American Samoa ditched into the Pacific Ocean on Sunday. Lucky for him that a US Coast Guard C-130 rescue aircraft spotted him about eight hours later, and dropped a raft so he could patiently wait for a ride to Christmas Island.

Ray Clamback, 67, left Hilo in the company of a second C182, but apparently ran into problems some 750 miles south of Oahu. The pilot of the second aircraft saw Clamback ditch, but could not tell if he had come out of his aircraft.

He then put in a radio call notifying authorities of the accident. Now, the story gets a bit weird here, because the Associated Press is reporting that the second pilot circled the debris field until the USCG C-130 arrived.

That's certainly a noble thing to do, except for the fact the C-130 did not arrive on the scene until eight hours after the ditching. We'd be surprised to hear the C182 was carrying eight hours reserve worth of fuel.

At any rate, we do know that Clamback is in the raft, and a container ship was on its way to the crash site to pick him up sometime early Tuesday morning.

After dropping him off in the Republic of Kiribati, otherwise known as Christmas Island, some 1,300 miles south of Hawaii, he will be picked up and returned to Hawaii.

FMI: www.uscg.mil