'It's a miracle': Pilot films his own rescue after crashing plane into ocean
Following an assumed engine failure, pilot David Lesh documented the aftermath of a dramatic plane crash and amazingly the only injuries sustained were a few jellyfish stings.
According to ABC 7, David Lesh bought his plane a few weeks ago. Mr Lesh, who is from Denver, went to San Francisco and organised a photoshoot to get photos of his new aircraft.
The 34-year-old pilot said he bought the single-engine Beechcraft Bonanza propeller plane for more than US$200,000 ($295,000) and then spent about $60,000 on upgrades.
Mr Lesh told ABC 7 he planned on flying over the Golden Gate Bridge and the surrounding bay area. He was with his friend Kayla when the plane crashed.
The plane went down about 8km outside Half Moon Bay Harbour. Mr Lesh said he couldn’t get the engine running again after the plane lost power. He said he only had about a “minute or two” from when he realised something was wrong and hitting the water.
"It skipped along the water a few times. There was like no impact. We were totally fine," Lesh said.
Footage of Lesh’s plane crashing into the water was filmed by a passenger in a plane piloted by Owen Leipelt. The passenger was photographing Mr Lesh’s plane.
“Watching this unfold in front of my very eyes was surreal, and frightening not knowing his condition until he called me on the phone from the water roughly 10 minutes later,” Leipelt later wrote on Instagram.
After the plane crashed Mr Lesh opened the plane door, grabbed his phone and some items that would help the pair float and stood on the wing, until the plane sunk about 30 or 40 seconds later.
He filmed himself and Kayla in the water, using a window shield and a seat cushion to stay afloat.
Following the crash, and taking a break from filming, Mr Lesh called Mr Leipelt and directed him to where he and Kayla were.
Mr Leipelt contacted Air Traffic Control, who then contacted Airborne Coast Guard Asset. Mr Lesh continued to document the rescue when authorities came.
"What was truly amazing about tonight was there was another aircraft on-scene that quickly responded," Lt. Commander Joshua Murphy said.
“For as terrible as it was, it really wasn’t bad,” US Coast Guard PO1 Mikol Sullivan said. “It’s really a miracle.”
Mr Lesh is a skier and has almost 40,000 followers on Instagram. He told them he “bobbed around getting hypothermia and stung by jelly fish for 45 min”.
He gave a “huge thanks” to the Coast Guard and Owen Leipelt.
“I’ll put together a full video ASAP,” Mr Lesh said.
Since the crash, people have accused Mr Lesh of staging the ordeal.
“If you think I crashed my brand new airplane into the Pacific for a publicity stunt, you need your head examined,” he told ABC 7.
With AP
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