Remnant of ditched
plane is near MauiSome worry that the bobbing
fuselage could be a hazard
A home-built aircraft ditched earlier this month nearly 100 miles off the coast of Maui has been spotted floating near the Valley Isle's coast, the Coast Guard said yesterday.
The plane, a Cozy III, is mostly intact and was sticking up four feet out of the water in a fishing ground about 10 miles northeast of the island, near the Q fat buoy, said Coast Guard Lt. j.g. John Titchen. A fishing crew had already snagged a wing from the plane and delivered it to shore.
The plane is also missing its tail, Titchen said. Its identification number, N534S, is still visible on its remaining wing and the fuselage.
William Swears, a former Coast Guard pilot, ditched the plane Nov. 15 after experiencing engine trouble. He spent 3 1/2 hours clinging to the floating wreckage before he was rescued.
The plane's position shifts with the winds and currents, Titchen said, and it is moving east rapidly. Wind shifts to a more northerly direction in the next few days could push it closer to Maui, he said.
Since the plane sticks up out of the water and is difficult to see from a distance, it creates a hazard to mariners. It is unlikely the plane will break apart in the near future, Titchen said.
"Truthfully, if it survived the last few days of heavy surf out of the east, it's probably not going to break up," he said.
The Coast Guard has no plans to recover the plane unless it becomes a more direct hazard, Titchen said.
