Pilot’s Skills, Poise Are Tested in Sea Landing

The pilot who flawlessly ditched a small plane carrying his family and neighbors into the sea also led them safely to a life raft as the aircraft sank in Massachusetts Bay, passengers said Monday.

Pilot Dana Lake and his neighbor, James Comosa, managed to prepare their wives, Lake’s three daughters and Comosa’s two sons for Sunday’s emergency landing.

“Dana kept his cool through the whole thing. He told us exactly what to do. The little girls were freaking out,” said Jamie Comosa, 14.

None of the nine was seriously injured, though Lake’s youngest daughter, Jessica, 7, remained in a hospital Monday in fair condition.

Lake had reported fuel problems with the plane and Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Jim Peters said the problems started with the fuel pump. An investigation was planned.

James Comosa, 46, said that once Lake realized the plane was going down, he contacted the nearest control tower and prepared their escape.

“Some signs of the cross were made,” Comosa told WBZ-TV. “The children were starting to get a little panicked, and the mothers were obviously focused on their children, and Dana and I were focused on seeing what we could do to not let happen what apparently was about to happen.”

When the twin-engine Piper Navajo went into the water, Lake, 50, climbed onto the wing and had Comosa toss the raft to him. Comosa said Lake inflated it and the two men ushered their wives and children aboard.

The plane, en route from Nantucket to Beverly, went down about two miles from shore. Coast Guard boats and a helicopter found the raft holding Carolyn Lake, 40; daughters Katie, 10; Courtney, 8; and Jessica; Theresa Comosa, 46; and her younger son, Nicholas, 9.

Dana Lake, James and Jamie Comosa were clinging to the side. No one was wearing a life vest.

“I think they were just relieved to get off the raft,” said Coast Guard Boatswain’s Mate 2nd Class Jonathan Wall. “The little girl [Jessica] was crying ‘I want my mommy! I want my mommy!’ but once we got her mother on the boat, she was fine.”