Pilot found after
plane crashes in Pacific

A 67-year-old pilot whose small plane crashed yesterday in the Pacific Ocean about 750 miles south of Oahu was rescued after treading water for about eight hours, Coast Guard officials said.

Ray Clamback was spotted about 7:30 p.m. by a C-130 aircraft that was dispatched from Honolulu shortly after 11:30 a.m., said Chief Petty Officer Marsha Delaney, a Coast Guard spokeswoman in Honolulu.

Clamback was able to climb into a life raft dropped by the C-130, but details of his condition or how he survived the ordeal were not immediately available.

Delaney said Clamback was to remain in the raft until he could be picked up by a "Samaritan vessel" that was on its way to the crash site to help in the search.

Another C-130 from Honolulu being sent in relief of the first plane will watch over Clamback until the P&O Nedlloyd Los Angeles, a large container ship, was to arrive at the scene this morning, Delaney said.

The Coast Guard plans to have the ship take Clamback to Christmas Island in the Republic of Kiribati, about 1,300 miles south of Hawaii.

Delaney said Clamback was from Australia, but she did not know his hometown.

He was the only person aboard the Cessna 182 that was traveling in tandem with a second Cessna aircraft from Hilo on the Big Island en route to Pago Pago, American Samoa, when the pilot made a distress call, the Coast Guard said.

Authorities said the pilot of the second aircraft saw the first plane ditch into the water but could not tell whether the pilot was able to get out before it hit the water.

The second pilot circled the debris field until the C-130 arrived at the scene about 3:30 p.m., then continued on to Christmas Island, Delaney said.