The Albatross had engine trouble, and its subsequent crash landing took out several commercial beehives. That unfortunate turn of events made the rescue of the survivors particularly heroic, as huge clouds of angry bees defended their turf against the pilot, passengers, and rescuers, all of whom sustained multiple stings.

The crash, near Florida's Atlantic coast, was in an open area -- open because it was a cow pasture, enhanced by a commercial honey farm. There were over a hundred beehives there; many were destroyed when the stricken plane came through.

A father-and-son team, driving nearby, saw the crash and went to help. The pilot was treating one of the passengers, witness reports said, trying to stop massive bleeding. 18-year-old Blake Lynch, dressed just in jean shorts, wrapped his Dad's shirt around his head, and ran to the wreck, where he pulled the injured pilot from the wreck, put him on his shoulders, and ran from the crash site. Blake was later quoted in the Palm Beach Post: "You don't understand -- there were about a million bees out there... It was a cloud about 100 yards wide."

Blakes' Dad, Garland Lynch, did his best to bind up the pilot's wounds and pull the bees off his skin.

Fire and Sheriff's personnel arrived fifteen minutes later; they too faced the angry swarms. Many sustained multiple stings.

The names of the men aboard are being withheld, for the time being. One of the two passengers died.

The "seasonally-based" Hu-16 flew out of St. Lucie airport; the flight was "just to exercise the plane," according to the paper's report. It reportedly carried about 500 gallons of gasoline. Luckily, there was no postcrash fire.

Hero kept his head

Kelly Wolfe, of the Palm Beach Post, noted, "Blake Lynch said that as he headed toward the crashed plane he couldn't panic because 'everyone else was panicking... If you watch out for people,' he said, 'other people will watch out for you.'"

**   Report created 9/26/2003   Record 9  **
IDENTIFICATION
  Regis#: 70258        Make/Model: U16       Description: HU-16 ALBATROSS
  Date: 09/25/2003     Time: 1726
  Event Type: Accident   Highest Injury: Fatal     Mid Air: N    Missing: N
  Damage: Destroyed
LOCATION
  City: FORT PIERCE                 State: FL   Country: US
DESCRIPTION
  AIRCRAFT DEPARTED ST. LUCIE COUNTY INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT (FPR). REPORTED AN ENGINE FAILURE. AIRCRAFT CRASHED TRYING TO RETURN TO THE AIRPORT. OF THE TREE POB, ONE SUFFERED FATAL INJURIES AND THE OTHER TWO ARE IN CRITICAL CONDITION. FORT PIERCE, FL
INJURY DATA      Total Fatal:   1
                 # Crew:  1     Fat:   0     Ser:   1     Min:   0     Unk:   Y
                 # Pass:   2     Fat:   1     Ser:   1     Min:   0     Unk:   
                 # Grnd:         Fat:   0     Ser:   0     Min:   0     Unk:   
WEATHER: KFPR 251653Z 09009KT 10SM SCT021 28/24 A3000 RMK AO2 RAE11
OTHER DATA
  Departed: (FPR) FORT PIERCE,FL        Dep Date: 09/25/2003   Dep. Time: 1720
  Destination: UNK                      Flt Plan: UNK          Wx Briefing: U
  Last Radio Cont: APPOX 2 NW FPR
  Last Clearance: CLRD TO LAND RWY 14
  FAA FSDO: ORLANDO, FL  (SO15)                   Entry date: 09/26/2003