20010809020279A

(.19) On August 9, 2001, about 1215 eastern daylight time, a Piper PA-32-260, N5569J, registered to a private individual, dba fly key west, inc., operating as a title 14 CFR part 91 local sightseeing flight, ditched in the forida straits, about 30 miles southwest of key west, Florida. Visaul meteorological conditions prevailed and no flight plan had been filed. The commerciallly-rated pilot was not injured and rescued by a navy helicopter. The two passengers were not found, and at dark, the coast guard suspended their search. They are presumed to have drowned. The flight departed key west international airport at about 11:45. According to the pilot, the two passengers appeared to be an older hispanic couple who spoke little english. Shortly after departure, the male passenger pushed through the collapsible partition that separated the cabin from the cockpit, produced a small knife, turned the communications radio and transponder off, and demanded to fly to cuba. In an attempt to thwart the hijacking, the pilot pulled throttle and pushed pitch control enough to produce negative "g" which suspended the passenger on the cabin ceiling momentarily, and reversed course to key west. A struggle ensued that bent the throttle rod, and when the pilot straightened the bend, the rod snapped. With the engine near idle and attempts at increasing throttle setting unsuccessful, the pilot's only alternative was to ditch. The pilot donned his life vest, and the two passengers did likewise, however, they inflated theirs before sea impact. The impact was hard and it appeared both passengers lost consciousness. The pilot egressed through the right cockpit door onto the right wing, inflated his life vest, and swam to the left aft cabin door to extricate the passengers. He was not successful in opening the door before the aircraft sank, which occurred within a minute of coming to a stop in the water. (-23) the flight departed as normal and was cleared for a standard departure route and transponder code of 0273. The aircraft climbed on a downwind heading towards marquesas keys. The aircraft arrived at its cruise altitude of 5,500 ft, and located just to the east of marqueses keys when Mr. Hayashi noticed the male passenger reaching forward, through the privacy blind, and turning the VHF communications radio and the ATC transponder to the off p osition. Mr. Hayashi went to turn them back on and the passenger pulled a knife out and stated "cuba, cuba". Mr. Hayashi then turned the aircraft to a heading of about 180 degrees. While flying south Mr. Hayashi was trying toget the hijacker to allow him to turn on the radios so that he could call someone to let them know what was going on, but every time he would attempt to touch the radio the hijacker would threaten him with the knife and scream "cuba, cuba". As the aircraft was flying southbound towards cuba, Mr. Hayashi noticed that the hijacker had put his arm over the right pilot's seat. This arm was the none that was holding the knife. Mr. Hayashi decided to pull the throttle to idle and abruptly push the aircraft nose over into a negative g maneuver. Then he pulled the yoke back abruptly in a positive g maneuver to try and get the hijacker to drop the knife. During this pitch down and up, the hijacker fell in between the 2 front pilot seats landing on Mr. Hayashi's right arm. Mr hayashi's right hand was on the throttle at this time. When the hijacker fell on his arm that bent the throttle arm down not allowing throttle movement. Mr. Hayashi attempted to bend the throttle back up to be able to apply power again, but the throttle lever broke off. The aircraft engine was at idle power with no way of changing power settings. The hijacker was then pushed backward and Mr. Hayashi pulled out his life vet from behind the pilots seat. At this point the hijacker appeared to know that the airplane was going to crash land in the water and returned to his seat. The passengers were instructed to fasten the seat belts and put their life vests on. Mr. Hayashi turned the VHF comm and the transponder back on and pushed the ident button on the transponder. After that he made a call to the key west tower informing them that he was approximately 30 miles south west of key west and that he was going down and had to ditch. Key west tower responded asking souls on board and kept asking for aircraft current position. Mr. Hayashi determined and notified the tower that he was on the 210-degree radial of the key west VOR at approximately 30-40 miles. As Mr. Hayashi set up the aircraft for ditching he noticed very rough seas so he turned parallel to the swells, slowed the aircraft down to landing speed, extended full flaps, and flared the aircraft with a nose high attitude just prior to hitting the water. When the main gear hit the water, the aircraft's nose slammed forward into the water and the aircraft came to an abrupt stop. The airplane immediately started to fill with water. Mr. Hayashi exited the aircraft through the pilots front door and was standing on the wing. He looked back into the aircraft and saw the 2 passengers in their seats bent over at the waist and limp. He was banging on the roof of the aircraft and screaming at them to get out of the aircraft. There was no response from the passengers so Mr. Hayashi jumped into the water off the back of the wing and swam around the back of the aircraft to the passenger door. When he jumped off the wing and while swimming around the aircraft, the airplane nosed down in the water and was positioned almost vertical. When he reached the passenger door, he was unable to reach the door latches. As the airplane sank he was able to unlock the door but by the time he was able to get them both open, the door was already under water preventing him from being able to open it. The airplane was totally under water when Mr. Hayashi attempted to swim away from the area. There was a lot of gas in the water and his eyes. After a period of time in the water, a us coast guard C-130 aircraft did a couple of fly bys, and returned dropping a life raft. Mr. Hayashi swam to the raft and climbed into it. Once again after a period of time, a us navy helicopter picked him up out of the water. (.4) according to the pilot, the flight was planned as a commercial sight-seeing flight in the key west vicinity. The customers were an elderly hispanic couple who spoke little english. Upon reaching cruising altitude, the male passenger left his seat, encroached into the cockpit, produced a knife, turned the radios and transponder off, and demanded to be flown to cuba. In an attempt to thwart the hijacking, the pilot pitched over to produce negative "g" to disable the hijacker, and headed back to key west. In the ensuing struggle, the hijacker fell against and bent the retarded throttle. Attempts to straighten the throttle shaft snapped it off, and an idle power ditching was conducted. At water impact, forward motion stopped violently, and the lap-belted passengers appeared to lose consciousness. The pilot egressed from the right cockpit door, inflated his life vest, and swam to the pas senger door to extricate the passengers, but the aircraft started sinking before he could get the door open. The passengers went down with the aircraft, and the pilot was rescued by a u. s. navy helicopter. Neither aircraft nor passengers have been recovered to date.