2 on Board Cessna Survive Crash South of the Coronado Bridge

Two men who emerged from a single-engine Cessna that crash-landed Saturday in San Diego Bay are lucky to be alive.

A witness told NBC 7/39 that the plane's engine stopped, and it dropped an advertising banner it was towing moments before ditching just south of the Coronado Bay Bridge, near the Hilton San Diego Bayfront hotel, about 4:20 p.m. Saturday.

A Federal Aviation Administration duty officer said the pilot of the Cessna 150 reported engine trouble shortly before going down.

Recreational boaters in the area got the pilot and a passenger out of the water and handed them over to a U.S. Coast Guard vessel. The plane sunk, and Harbor Police divers later took a look at it. But it was unclear when and if it would be raised.

Medics checked out the two people aboard the plane, and they appeared to be in good shape, a Fire-Rescue Department spokesman said.

U-T San Diego quoted Lt. j.g. Michael Haas, a spokesman for the Coast Guard, as saying: 

“Thanks to the quick actions of boaters who were in the area, the two men were only in the water for minutes after making the emergency landing. Boaters took exactly the right actions, calling in the distress on Channel 16 and assisting the people in the water.”

—City News Service