Loss of Power Thwarted Attempt at Emergency Landing

A pilot was trying to bring his sputtering aircraft in for an emergency landing on the sand near the Balboa Pier when the plane lost power and dropped into Newport Bay, authorities said Wednesday.

David Gene Gibbs, 36, a professional helicopter pilot, said he was flying from Palm Springs when the single-engine Cessna 210-B lost power over Orange County on Tuesday night.

A runway was cleared for an emergency landing at John Wayne Airport, but Gibbs said the plane gave out before he could land. Neither Gibbs nor his passenger, Roger Larue, also a pilot, was seriously injured.

“My heart was pounding . . . beating through my chest,” Gibbs said in an interview. “I remember feeling angry, frustrated and determined to get out of the situation. You keep telling yourself you don’t want to give up--you don’t want to die.”

When the plane hit the water, Gibbs said, “I was immediately able to open my door, and I’m not sure, but I think the wing buckled back on Roger’s side, pinning his door shut.” However, Larue managed to get his door open, and both men escaped before the plane sank, Gibbs said.

“Pilots constantly simulate emergency procedures,” Gibbs said, but it is much more difficult when an emergency actually arises. “I just kept flying the airplane,” Gibbs said. “I flew it until we stopped.”

“I couldn’t sleep at all last night,” Gibbs said Wednesday. “Every time I’d close my eyes, I’d see the impact.”

Gibbs said he and Larue were flying from Palm Springs to San Diego but felt a little tired and decided to return to their home airport in Van Nuys when the trouble began.

A Newport Beach police helicopter flew in front of the crippled plane, a police spokesman said, and lit the way for Gibbs to land. Gibbs said he would not have been able to see a rock jetty along the entrance to the harbor without the helicopter’s lights. Even with the light, Gibbs barely managed to clear the jetty before his plane dropped into the water about 40 feet from a floating bait shop.

Efforts to recover the Cessna were postponed Wednesday because the salvage crew could not get approval from the insurance company that insured the craft, a Harbor Patrol spokesman said.

The National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration are investigating the incident. Neither agency would comment pending completion of the investigation.