Investigators Now Searching For Missing Engine

A student practicing engine-out emergency procedures got a taste of the real thing Thursday afternoon.

According to the Volusia County sheriff's department, student pilot Rahul Gulati was practicing engine-out procedures with flight instructor Cory Strouse in a Piper PA-34-200 Seneca twin, when the CFI heard "popping" sounds coming from one of the plane's engines. Gulati told investigators the aircraft's right propeller "snapped" at about 6,000 feet.

The pilots turned their plane (type shown above) back towards New Smyrna Beach Municipal Airport, but for as-yet undetermined reasons were unable to maintain speed and altitude. The aircraft came down in a marshy section of Turnbull Bay Creek, according to the Daytona Beach (FL) News-Journal.

The three people onboard -- Gulati, Strouse, and student pilot Ina Chowdhury -- were able to swim away from the wreckage, and all declined medical treatment at the scene.

Investigators with the FAA and NTSB are now searching for the plane's right engine. They aren't sure whether the right engine broke off when the plane impacted the creek, or if the motor may have departed the airframe while in flight.

The accident aircraft was operated by Cloud Dancer Aviation of Daytona Beach. The News-Journal reports the plane's owner, Susan Alber, shoved one of the paper's reporters, and slapped a television station's news camera out of the way as reporters photographed and filmed her arrival.

A representative with Cloud Dancer Aviation, identified as "Candice," told reporters the pilots handled the situation according to proper emergency procedures.

"The ability and the skill to be able to handle the aircraft after a major part failure that structurally compromised this aircraft is beyond comprehension," she said.

FMI: www.faa.gov