Sun Will Rise Again for Plane Crash Victims

Three Orange County men who set out from John Wayne Airport for a pleasure flight to view the sunset miraculously escaped injury Friday after their airplane dropped 2,000 feet into the ocean near Anaheim Bay.

Pilot Patrick Butler, 37, of Laguna Hills, his brother Tim Butler, 35, of Lake Forest and Tom Tarapach, 28, of Anaheim swam more than 1,000 yards to a rocky jetty on little-used land of the U.S. Naval Weapons Station in Seal Beach. Rescuers reached them moments later about 5:30 p.m.

The men were treated for hypothermia at Los Alamitos Medical Center and released about 9 p.m.

“I feel a lot better, a lot warmer,” Timothy Butler said as he emerged from the hospital into the glare of camera lights. “It’s hard to swim with all your clothes on and your boots. It was a tough swim.”

Dave Roth, a close family friend who almost went on the evening jaunt but opted to stay home and work, heard about a single-engine Piper Cherokee plunging into the water when he turned on his television, and he rushed to the hospital.

Roth said the Butlers described a harrowing swim to shore through 57-degree water. At one point, Timothy sank beneath the cold ocean swells and was pulled to safety by his brother, who was credited by family and friends for saving the trio with his knowledge of emergency procedures.

Timothy Butler’s arm was somehow caught in his jacket, and he could only swim with one arm.

“Patrick was yelling at Tim to do a dead man’s float, but Tim went under a couple of times,” Roth said. “Tim said it all went black all of a sudden and then he felt his brother’s arm around his neck.”

The cause of the crash was unknown Friday, but Gary Mucho, regional director of the National Transportation Safety Board, said the engine quit over the ocean off Long Beach. Mucho interviewed the pilot at the hospital.

The U.S. Coast Guard, Orange County Sheriff’s Department Harbor Patrol, and a boat from the Naval Weapons Station searched the darkened waters for the aircraft Friday night. They believe they know where it sank, and they will try to pull it up today, said Cmdr. Joel Steadley, the commanding officer at the base.

Family members rushed to the hospital and left exhausted and relieved.

“It’s a miracle,” said the Butlers’ mother, Ruth “Rusty” Housser, 58, as she hugged son Timothy outside Los Alamitos Medical Center.

“We always joke, ‘Put your license in a zip-lock bag,”’ said Roth, 35, of Costa Mesa. “That was our joke tonight before he left. . . . They’re Irish and we always joke that they’re very lucky. They do well in Vegas and they did well tonight.”

Patrick Butler, owner of Audio Video Associates Inc. in Newport Beach and a licensed pilot since 1991, rented the four-seat Piper Dakota out of John Wayne Airport.

He was turning the plane around outside Long Beach when the engine quit at about 5:20 p.m., Mucho said. Butler tried twice to restart the engine using emergency procedures he practices monthly. When all efforts failed, he set the plane into a glide over the water and slowed the craft from 125 knots to about 75 knots for a slower landing.

The plane skidded into the ocean tail first, exactly as it should have, and Patrick ordered his brother, Timothy, to crack the door so it wouldn’t jam.

Roth said the men told him the cabin quickly filled with water to knee level and they stepped out onto the craft’s wings. When it became obvious that no rescue was imminent, they jumped into the waves and swam for shore.

The older Butler apparently did an excellent job of handling the craft given the emergency conditions and extremely short time to prepare, said Mucho and Orange County Fire Authority Capt. Dan Young.

“The passengers were lucky they weren’t hurt, and it looks like they were lucky Patrick Butler was their pilot,” Young said. Butler “seems to be a very responsible pilot based on the information we have.”

“There’s a lot of smiles. His experience paid off,” Mucho said.

Witnesses in Seal Beach saw the craft go down and called 911. Seal Beach police officers rushed to the scene, cutting a lock on the naval base gate with bolt cutters. The Highway Patrol also responded, as well as Orange County Fire Authority paramedics.