Pilot who crashed into sea snaps smiling selfies and tells ‘crappy dad jokes' while waiting to be rescued
A pilot recalled the harrowing moment his plane engine 'just went silent' over the ocean, sending him and a passenger crashing into the rough seas below — where he snapped smiling selfies and told 'crappy dad jokes' while waiting hours to be rescued.
Canadian pilot Michael McDonald and his marine biologist passenger were about three hours into a daily flight over the open waters of Mexico's Gulf of California on April 18 when something suddenly went wrong.
The Cessna 182's engine 'just went silent' at about 1,500 feet over the ocean — causing the four-seater to drop at about 500 feet per minute while at least seven miles from land, he said.
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'Three minutes is all we had left to play with,' he told CBC News of the time he estimated he had before crashing.
3 A Canadian pilot and his passenger survived a small plane off Mexico filming footage of their ordeal as they awaited rescue on April 18.
Michael MacDonald via Storyful
3 The pilot and marine biologist had been flying over the Gulf of California daily for over a month.
Michael MacDonald / Facebook
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After failing to troubleshoot the issue, the pilot passed a pillow to his passenger, who was not otherwise identified, to cover her face, telling her to brace for impact.
The small plane finally smashed into the water while going around 70 mph, McDonald said — likening it to getting punched in the face.
'We went head first and flipped over, immediately blew out the windshield, and water came rushing in,' the veteran commercial pilot said.
'It was a bit of a punch to the face. It was kind of a surreal feeling. It was so sudden,' he added.
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Amazingly, neither McDonald nor his passenger were seriously injured, and both managed to free themselves from their harnesses and activate their inflatable life vests.
3 McDonald has been flying planes since 2012.
Michael MacDonald via Storyful
McDonald's iPhone also survived in its protective case — and he almost immediately got a call from his company's office after they got an alert that something was wrong.
The pilot then used his phone to snap selfies and film videos as he and his passenger waited at least two hours before they were finally found and pulled to safety.
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'Waiting to get rescued,' he says in one selfie video as he floats in a yellow life vest. 'Might be a while.'
MacDonald told CTV he tried to lighten the mood by talking and telling 'crappy dad jokes,' which he claims his passenger — who looked terrified in most of the snaps — enjoyed.
'I felt like I had a bit of an out-of-body experience, watching someone else do it. So, I was OK,' he says.
McDonald since said the marine biologist is like his 'little sister now' since going through the ordeal together.
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