I wonder what would have happened if he would have called 30 minutes before
running out of gas and had the Coast Guard giving him "Flight Following"
Maybe they could have got there before the plane sank.

When I lived in Racine, WI (on the western Lake Michigan shore), there was a
huge outcry when the Coast Guard eliminated the rescue helicopter nearby, in
favor of consolidating all search & rescue operations on the east side of
the lake.

I don't remember all the particulars, but I know that the boaters in our
area were really worried, since it would add 30 (or more) minutes to any
helicopter rescue efforts. (They still had boats on the western shore, of
course.)

In this case, having a closer helicopter probably wouldn't have mattered,
but perhaps if he had followed your plan of action it might have?
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"
"Jon Kraus" wrote in message
...
I
don't even know if that was a possibility. Just a thought.

Jon Kraus
PP-ASEL-IA
'79 Mooney 201

Steven P. McNicoll wrote:
"Chris" wrote in message
...

Its all speculation, the poor planning was one issue, poor execution of
his way out of the problem was the other.


Poor planning is a certainty, there was no proper execution out of this
problem.