A pilot and passenger flying from Florida to the Bahamas declared an engine emergency and crashed into the sea off the coast of Great Exuma. They spent 27 hours adrift in stormy conditions in a life raft before being rescued. The United States Coast Guard deployed helicopters and boats to search a 100 mile area for the downed plane. The pilot and passenger were eventually spotted and airlifted to safety in Nassau.

1. U.S
CUBA
BAHAMAS
GREAT EXUMA
GREAT EXUMA
International
Airport
GEORGE
TOWN
LITTLE EXUMA
Mystery disapearance of
pilot and wife on route to
Bahama coast
The pilot and his passenger,
25-year-old Elaine McGlaughlin,
both from Birmingham, Alabama were traveling together to attend
a local government fundraising event at Georgetown university
on the the island of Great Exuma.
The pilot and passenger departed from Fort Lauderdale regional airport Miami at 10:15.
Pilot Richard McGlaughlin, flying a single engine Cirrus type aircraft , made a distress call at
12:15 reporting that his aircraft had developed engine trouble and losing altitude and required
immediate assistance, loosing radio contact 20miles off Georgetown.
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The united states Coastal Service have dispatched a
MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter and deployed several other coast gard services to
scout the area and investigate the potential crash zone. The plane could be as far
as 100 miles away from the initial crash zone due to strong ocean currents.
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GREAT EXUMA
InternationalAirport
GEORGETOWN
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BREAKING NEWS!!The pilot and his passenger, 25-year-old Elaine McGlaughlin, both from Birming-
ham, Alabama, deployed their parachute before ditching the plane where it
plummeted into the sea 20 miles off the island of Great Exma part of the
Bahamas islands.
The pair then spent the next 27 hours adrift in an inflatible life raft drifting a
further 50 miles in a South Westerly direction in inhospitible weather with wind
squalls reaching 90 k/m/h.
At aprox 8.15 am the following morning. The McGlaughlins where spotted by a
MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter and a short time later were plucked to saftey from the
heavey seas and flown by rescue teams to Odyssey Airport in nearby Nassau,
where they remain under medical suppervision.
Richard and Elaine McGlaughlin, pictured, were not injured in the crash.
NASSAU