A Piper Warrior pilot who spent about 20 minutes in the 37-degree waters of the Hudson River last Monday was released from hospital a little more than a day later, none the worse for wear. John Eberle, 42, the flight’s pilot and a flight instructor, met with reporters on Tuesday, 27 hours after the Warrior lost power after departure from South Jersey Regional airport and ditched in the Hudson. Mark Sorey, 44, identified by FAA spokesman Jim Peters to The Associated Press as a student pilot, also escaped the ditching but was kept in the hospital longer. Eberle said they were climbing out at about 1,000 feet when the engine just quit. "At this point, I'm contacting emergency -- 'Mayday, Mayday, Mayday, Piper Warrior, one mile north GW Bridge, engine failure, going down.' " And in New York's busy airspace, there were plenty of people listening. AVweb reader David Faile wrote us to say he heard the Mayday, as did the crew of the Air Force AWACS plane that keeps watch on the Big Apple.
http://www.avweb.com/newswire/12_01b/brief...tml?CMP=OTC-RSS
http://www.avweb.com/newswire/12_01b/brief...tml?CMP=OTC-RSS
