Pilot Pulls Off Riverbed Landing

Dodging power lines, a Newport Beach pilot escaped serious injury Wednesday night after his twin-engine plane lost power and crashed nose first into a muddy bank of the Santa Ana River in Anaheim.

“He came right across the big power lines, and then I saw (the plane) splash in the water,” said Don Nelson of Brea, who was fishing in the river at the time. “He was coming in on a wing and prayer. God sat with him the whole way.”

Anaheim Police Sgt. David Severson said of the pilot: “He did a hell of a job.”

The pilot, identified as Jack Bostwick, 60, of Newport Beach, suffered only minor scrapes and bruises to both legs in what was the second plane crash of the day in Orange County.

Earlier Wednesday, a light plane crashed into a Buena Park neighborhood shortly after takeoff from Fullerton Municipal Airport, injuring a flight instructor and a student pilot. The student pilot, a 29-year-old woman visiting from Britain, suffered serious burns when the plane burst into flames.

Bostwick was en route from Scottsdale, Ariz., to John Wayne Airport when his nine-seat plane apparently lost power at 7:17 p.m., forcing him down into the swampy bank of the Santa Ana River about 200 yards east of Tustin Avenue, near the Santa Ana River Lakes and the Riverside Freeway, police said. His landing gear was still retracted.

Approaching from the east, Bostwick’s Rockwell Turbine Commando skidded through the river for about 100 yards before coming to rest on the northern bank of the river, its nose embedded in the marsh, according to witnesses and police.

Paramedics who happened to be passing by spotted the accident and rushed to the scene, taking Bostwick from the plane and bringing him to Kaiser Permanente’s Anaheim Medical Center.

As of 9:30 p.m., the pilot was reported “doing quite well” after emergency room treatment and was to leave the hospital Wednesday night. He was being interviewed at the hospital by Federal Aviation Administration officials but declined to speak with reporters.

“I’m just stoked that he’s alive,” said the pilot’s son, John Bostwick, 22, of Newport Beach. He said his father had been a Navy aviator and runs a company called Drapers Rossman.

Nelson, witness to the accident, approached the pilot’s son at the crash scene and told him excitedly: “I saw him come in! Your dad is one hell of a pilot!”

Police quoted another witness as saying: “It was amazing how he came in with no power.”

According to fire officials, Bostwick said the power failure may have been related to a faulty fuel gauge.

Times staff writer Ted Johnson contributed to this story.