Smells, Shock Haunt Pilot of Downed Plane

Five days after his missionary plane was gunned down by a Peruvian military fighter, the scent of gunpowder and burning metal are still fresh in Kevin Donaldson’s memory.

“The shots hit us out of nowhere and the cockpit filled with smoke,” the pilot told Associated Press in an interview Wednesday from his hospital bed. “The smell is something that will stay with me for a long time.”

The Peruvian air force shot down the plane Friday after mistaking the New Cumberland-based missionary group for drug smugglers as they flew from Iquitos to Islandia, a Peruvian jungle town.

Donaldson, 41, was listed in good condition Wednesday with gunshot wounds to his lower legs and was scheduled for surgery Friday. Two of his passengers, missionary Veronica Bowers and her 7-month-old daughter, Charity, were killed. Bowers’ husband, Jim, and their 6-year-old son, Cory, survived.

Peru’s military has said that the pilot did not identify himself and was traveling through a drug trafficking region without a flight plan.

Donaldson said he has been flying in the area for 12 years, knew of drug interdiction programs there, and had filed a flight plan. The missionaries’ organization, Assn. of Baptists for World Evangelism, posted a copy of the document on its Web page.

The fighter swooped from one side, under Donaldson’s plane and to the other side, he said. “I never got to see it up close,” he said.

Seconds after the fighter disappeared from view, his plane was riddled with bullets. He said he felt the bullets hitting his legs and intense heat filling the cabin.

After the plane landed upside-down in the river, Peruvian villagers in dugout canoes rescued the survivors. Donaldson was shot in both calves.

A surveillance plane owned by the U.S. Air Force and operated by three CIA contract employees accompanied by a Peruvian technician had spotted the missionaries’ plane and called it to the attention of the Peruvian military.

The U.S. airborne surveillance cooperation with Peru has been suspended. A similar program with Colombia also has been suspended, the State Department said.