A North Carolina pilot suffered a minor cut to his leg after ditching his Jabiru LSA near Cape Fear Regional Jetport Saturday. Mark Finkelstein told local media he didn’t have much time to consider his options as the RPM wound down on the engine of the little plane. “At a certain point, the engine just stopped altogether and the propeller just stopped and at that point it was very clear that I was going to be making a landing in the water.” Cause of the engine failure hasn’t been determined.
Lucky for Finkelstein, the local beach safety unit was just wrapping up another rescue when the aircraft hit the water and flipped about 100 yards offshore. He was rescued in minutes by the beach squad and assisted by civilians in a boat and even one on a surfboard. “I was so fortunate that the impact didn’t injure me and doubly fortunate that the Oak Island Water Rescue got to me so quickly,” Finkelstein said. “That was huge. That was the key to the whole thing.”
