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[John Feltham]

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Sully lite: 'cool' pilot Steve's Darwin ditching drama

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Pilot Steve Bolle walks out of the water after safely ditching his  
plane in Darwin Harbour.
Pictures: Glenn Campbell
He was very cool about it ... they've certainly trained for these  
things. It was definitely really dramatic, it happened so soon after  
they took off so to go up and come down again like that
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Audio reveals exactly what happened in Hudson River plane plunge
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Georgina Robinson
February 6, 2009 - 11:47AM
Six people walked away uninjured after a light plane ditched into  
Darwin Harbour today.

The pilot who got his passengers down safely is Steve Bolle, who has  
8000 hours' flying experience, says CSG Aviation, the company he works  
for.

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Mr Bolle brought off a small-scale version of the amazing Hudson River  
landing carried out byCaptain Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger in an  
Airbuslast month.

CSG managing director Denis Mackenzie said Mr Bolle reported a "loss  
of power" in one engine of the Piper Chieftain just a few minutes  
after taking off.

"He said on take-off they experienced some loss of power in one of the  
engines and he followed all the procedures and shut the engine down  
and wasn't able to return to the field so he had to put down on the  
beach," Mr Mackenzie said.

"It was actually in about two feet of water so they were lucky."

Mr Mackenzie said the passengers were shaken up but lucky to escape  
without so much as a sprained wrist.

"They've come back to our hangar facility at Darwin Airport and we're  
trying to organise some counsellors to come down here," he said.

Mr Bolle was also shaken but managed to stay calm.

"He was very cool about it ... they've certainly trained for these  
things," Mr Mackenzie said.

"It was definitely really dramatic, it happened so soon after they  
took off so to go up and come down again like that ..."

Glenn Campbell, a Herald photographer, said the aircraft made an  
emergency landing  into shallow water about 200 metres off shore from  
East Point Reserve at 8.40am local time (10.10am AEDT).

"It appears the two-engine aircraft has lost power and ditched into  
the ocean on tidal flats off East Point," Mr Campbell said.

"Everyone's walked away from it, the pilot walked away from the  
aircraft."

Northern Territory Police confirmed all five passengers and the pilot  
were unharmed.

The men and women waded through shallow water to a picnic area where  
police and ambulances were waiting, a police spokeswoman said.

"I arrived as the passengers had disembarked, just as the pilot was  
wading through the ocean ...[it looked like] he was the last one off  
the plane," Mr Campbell said.

The water in which the plane landed was only about half a metre deep,  
he said.

CSG is a computer technology firm that flies support and maintenance  
into remote areas of the Northern Territory.

According to its website, CSG owns two aircraft and usually flies from  
Darwin International Airport.

Resident Glenn Chandler said he was having a bike ride when he spotted  
two council workers staring out to sea.

"Two hundred metres off shore there's just this plane sitting in the  
harbour with water up to its wings and half a dozen people are  
standing around next to it in water up to their waists, sort of  
scratching their heads," Mr Chandler said.

"Then they just slowly dawdled back to shore ... chatting among  
themselves. It was quite a surreal thing.

"Obviously no one was hurt because there was no panic or anything."


ooroo

If you don't hear the knock of opportunity - build a door.

Anon.



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