Pilot, 5 passengers unhurt following landing in sea

Five airline passengers travelling to Corozal this morning got more than they bargained for when their Tropic Air plane had to make an emergency landing in the Caribbean Sea. According to Tropic’s President, Johnny Grief, pilot skill and rapid response prevented what could have been a disaster.

Johnny Grief, President, Tropic Air
?Our six-seater, which is one of our smaller aircraft was taking off from San Pedro at seven o?clock in the morning and about half way to Corozal he experienced some sort of drive train problem, in other words, engine or propeller problem and had to make an emergency landing near the coast. He had five people on board and none of them were injured.?

Janelle Chanona
?Can you tell us what was the company?s response once you found out that the aircraft was in trouble??

Johnny Grief
?He relayed a distress call to another aircraft and they relayed it to us here in our operations department and we immediately dispatched a boat, and actually the plane, the people were only in the airplane for about thirty minutes before the boat got there.?

?It?s literally right on that intersection of a straight line between San Pedro and Corozal on the coastline.?

Janelle Chanona
?Do you investigate to find out exactly what caused the aircraft to do down to make sure it doesn?t happen again??

Johnny Grief
?Exactly, that?s exactly why we do it. And we are being assisted by the Civil Aviation Department of Belize in that respect.?

Janelle Chanona
?Do you have any message to your frequent customers about the safety of travelling with your airline??

Johnny Grief
?The most dangerous part of your trip is still the drive to the airport. Tropic and all the other airlines remain very, very safe. Unfortunately, any time an airline like ours has a mishap it tends to get a lot of press, so you hear about it. If you heard about all the car wrecks, I don?t think anybody would drive.?

According to Grief, in an abundance of caution, the passengers and pilot were checked out by doctors in Belize City. All but one has since been transferred to San Pedro. Adelai Ayuso was admitted for observation at Belize Medical Associates after she passed out in the plane following the crash. The Cessna 207 was purchased new by Tropic in the late 1980s.