Pilot survives crash off Maui
By Peter Boylan
Advertiser Staff Writer
A Coast Guard pilot was rescued early yesterday morning, three hours after his single-engine plane ditched into the ocean off the north coast of Maui, and nine hours after he had lunch with two of the men who would save him.
Lt. Cmdr. William Swears, 43, was pulled from the water at 12:30 a.m., 94 miles north of Maui. He was airlifted to Maui Medical Center in stable condition.
Swears, who is married and has a young daughter, was flying from Honolulu to San Francisco when he reported engine trouble a little before 9 p.m.
A Coast Guard C-130 crew, piloted by Lt. Clint Trocchio, found the wreckage of Swears' Cozy Canard Pusher after receiving a signal from his emergency locating transmitter.
Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Allen Kenitzer said the small plane is an experimental-type of aircraft.
Swears, a Mililani resident who is scheduled to retire at the end of the year, had lunch with Trocchio and Trocchio's co-pilot, Lt. Joshua Fitzgerald, at noon on Saturday.
Trocchio described Swears as a friend, and said when he got the call from the Coast Guard's rescue coordination center, he knew who it was.
"When the call came in at 9 p.m. I was getting ready to turn in; I couldn't believe it," Trocchio said.
Trocchio said when his crew arrived at the site of the signal, two Hawaii Air National Guard F-15 Strike Eagles were circling over an area where they reported seeing an oil sheen.
Trocchio and his crew searched for an hour and a half before descending low enough to determine that Swears' plane was in the water.
A Coast Guard HH-65 Dolphin helicopter stationed at Air Station Barbers Point was dispatched to search for Swears. Trocchio said the helicopter hovered 50 feet above Swears' plane, which remained virtually intact, floating on the sea.
The helicopter pilots told Trocchio that they could see Swears sitting in the cockpit of his plane, waving his arms at them. Attached to his wrist was the emergency locator that Trocchio honed in on.
Trocchio said Swears suffered from hypothermia, and was cut and bruised.
Swears was honored in a retirement ceremony less than a month ago.
The Associated Press contributed to this report. Reach Peter Boylan at 535-8110 or pboylan@honoluluadvertiser.com.
