Daredevils Flight Ditches into Sea
A light aircraft handled by Heo Yong-ho, 52, a mountaineer, for a 1,100km cross-country flight ended with an emergency landing on the sea 4.3 miles south of Cheongsan-do, Wando-gun, South Jeolla Province at around 12:20 p.m. on January 1.
Heo boarded a patrol ship and entered Wando Harbor at 3:00 p.m. after being rescued by Gas Harmony, a 3,000 ton freighter from Panama.
Streak Shadow, Heos plane, took off from Yeoju, Gyeonggi Province at 7:50 a.m. and had a problem in its engine 800 meters over Wando.
Heo said, About 10 minutes after the aircraft fell on the sea, a lifeboat from the freighter arrived. This kind of incident usually happens when I climb and I had on a life jacket so I was not scared.
He added, During the flight, the weather was fine. But the plane gradually fell as the engine suddenly lost power.
On the first day of the new year, he was scheduled to ride Streak Shadow, a 225 kilogram, 9-meter craft, from Eagle Airfield in Yeoju, Gyeonggi to Jeju Island at 1:00 p.m., take a rest for half an hour and return.
Heo has succeeded in conquering seven high mountains including Mt. Everest and the North and the South Poles. In 1998, he achieved a license for light aircraft to become a pilot to realize his old dream.
He said, I wanted to deliver hope to people by succeeding in the flight. But, if I have a chance, I will try again.
Meanwhile, Dengelo Albert Karl, 36, an English teacher in a middle school in Yecheon, North Gyeongsang Province, fell into the sea on his motor paraglider and died near Gyeongpo Beach in Gangreung, Gangwon, at around 7:50 a.m. on January 1.
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