Banner-Tow Plane Down In Sheepshead Bay

When 25-year old Jonathan Ramsey Shockley started having serious engine trouble Sunday, he did what he's supposed to do.

"I went through the emergency procedures," he told the New York Post. "It was just that there was not much time. The engine was sputtering, and I just didn't want to hit anybody."

At first, he detached the banner he was towing with his Cessna 182 (file photo of type, above). Then he pointed the aircraft toward Brooklyn's Floyd Bennett Airport. But he realized he wasn't going to make the runway. When he realized it was too far away, he headed for the water.

"When his nose hit the water, there was a big splash and the plane flipped," Park Police Officer Ray Closs told the Post. "I thought for sure he'd be underwater. The whole cockpit was under. Just the wheels were sticking up."

Shockley climbed out on the wing of his sinking aircraft and was picked up by a jet skier.

"The engine threw up," said the aircraft's owner, Aerial Sign Company President Jim Butler, in an interview with the Post. "He did just what he's supposed to do. He steered the aircraft away from the shore."

Shockley was chagrined when he reported the accident to Butler. "He says, 'Mr. Butler, I'm sorry I splashed your airplane in the ocean.' I said, 'You did absolutely perfect,'" Butler told the Post.

Shockley was ready to get back into the air as early as Sunday night. "I've got to fly tomorrow night if I can get my license back," he told the Post.

There's just one catch: his certificate is still in the cockpit of the waterlogged 182.

FAA Preliminary Accident Report

IDENTIFICATION
 Regis#: 6550F    Make/Model: C182   Description: 182, Skylane
 Date: 07/04/2004   Time: 1956

 Event Type: Accident  Highest Injury: None   Mid Air: N  Missing: N
 Damage: Substantial

LOCATION
 City: NEW YORK          State: NY  Country: US

DESCRIPTION
 ACFT WHILE BANNER TOWING, DECLARED AN EMERGENCY AND REPORTED UNABLE TO
 MAINTAIN ALTITUDE AND CRASHED INTO THE SHORELINE BEHIND KINGSBOROUGH
 COMMUNITY COLLEGE, FLOYD BENNETT FIELD, NY

INJURY DATA   Total Fatal:  0
         # Crew:   1   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: Business   Phase: Unknown   Operation: General Aviation

 Departed: SANDY HOOK         Dep Date:  Dep. Time:  
 Destination: CONEY ISLAND       Flt Plan: VFR     Wx Briefing: N
 Last Radio Cont: UNK
 Last Clearance: UNK

 FAA FSDO: GARDEN CITY, NY (EA15)        Entry date: 07/06/2004

FMI: www.ntsb.gov