63 years of Boeing history dives into bay
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Old friends remember the day when Nelson, who was behind the controls yesterday when the historic plane crashed into Elliott Bay, piloted the old Clipper Flying Cloud home from Arizona, its four huge engines churning as it approached Boeing Field for the first time in decades.
On the tarmac that day, waiting for his son's arrival, was Richard "Dick" Nelson Sr., 84, a retired Boeing engineer and pilot who had helped teach his son to fly. And he had helped design the Stratoliner back in 1939. He would only live another year after the 1994 reunion.
Nelson and three other men yesterday walked away from the water landing that left the recently restored airplane bobbing in the 100-foot-deep water off Alki. Hundreds saw the spectacular landing.
"Two guys got out and they hugged," said Brenda Lukas of Seattle, who was eating at Salty's on Alki. "Another guy walked to the end of the wing, carrying a briefcase in his hand. He looked like he was waiting for a cab."
Also on the plane were Mark Kempton, 43, from Puyallup; Nathan Andrews, 43, from Graham, Pierce County; and Mike Carriker. All were treated at Harborview Medical Center and released.
"Buzz is a very capable pilot," said Roy Ostling, an 86-year-old retired Boeing engineer who also worked on the Stratoliner design. "He had a lot of experience flying with his father."
Nelson and the other three were on a team of 30 people, mostly volunteers, involved in the Boeing-backed effort to rescue and restore the 63-year-old plane.
It was flown several times and was scheduled to become the centerpiece at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, the new companion facility of the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum that is scheduled to open next year near Washington, D.C.
Debra Eckrote of the National Transportation Safety Board, which is investigating the crash, told The Associated Press that three Boeing test pilots and an observer had taken the plane up for a proficiency test. Boeing last night described it as a test flight, and said the plane was in the air for about an hour.
The men all apparently share an obsession with the historic plane.
Nathan Andrews is a Boeing electrician assigned to the restoration project. His wife, Mindy, said he comes from a family of rabid flying enthusiasts. Nathan's mother lives by the runway at Cougar Mountain Airport and his father's house sits near Shady Acres Airport in Spanaway. The Andrewses live next to the runway at Graham's Kapowsin Field, where Nathan takes off in his Cessna.
The Stratoliner "was not only a big part of his life. It was his life," she said. "He loved the plane. It was his passion."
Nelson, too, is a vintage-aviation buff, according to a Boeing pilot biography. He even owned a Cristen Eagle aerobatic biplane.
Nelson is a chief pilot for the 767 test program who has accumulated more than 14,000 flying hours during his 40-year career. Boeing says he is qualified to fly the 737, 747, 757, 767 and 777, as well as several out-of-production and vintage models.
Yesterday, that experience apparently paid off.
Mike Fergus, spokesman for the Seattle office of the Federal Aviation Administration, said Nelson was on final approach to Boeing Field when he reported a light indicating a problem with his landing gear. He broke off the approach and circled over Bainbridge Island while he checked into the problem.
Around 1 p.m., Nelson began a landing approach from the north to Boeing Field on runway 13-Right, which runs southwest, Fergus said. At 1:08 p.m., the pilot radioed a "mayday."
A minute later, Fergus said, "the pilot said it appeared he was going to impact the ground." Instead, he managed to ditch the plane in Elliott Bay just off West Seattle.
Bob McLaughlin, a wildlife observer with Project Seawolf, an Orca-study group, was in a boat at Elliott Bay Marina below Magnolia when he spotted the plane circling just above the water off Bainbridge Island. It appeared that a right propeller was failing, and only one half of the landing gear was lowered.
"We knew it was in some sort of trouble," he said. "You could see the propeller wasn't developing power."
But the problems apparently went beyond that.
Larry Cummings, 62, a retired Boeing mechanic who has worked on the Stratoliner since 1995, said the plane "absolutely" could have flown with one or even two dead engines. "If you got past two engines, then you'd have problems."
People all along the waterfront heard the sputtering engines.
"It'd go, 'boom, boom, boom,' and then it was silent. Then it went, 'boom, boom, boom,' and then it was silent again," said Janette Waistelle, 65, who was walking along Alki.
Monty Graham heard it, too. The 24-year-old was just finishing a training dive with his class from the Divers Institute of Technology.
He and his classmates turned to watch the plane drop lower and lower. Suddenly, it banked sharply and headed directly at them.
"One of my buddies yelled 'Run!' And that's what we did," Graham said.
Inside the nearby Salty's restaurant, more than 100 people were eating lunch as the plane seemed to zero in on the restaurant's large windows.
"The plane was wiggling its wings back and forth," said Earl Gutschmidt of Sammamish, who sat at a corner window with his wife and grandson. "It looked like a demonstration. But then it was coming right for us, right for our window.''
As the plane landed, it sent a 35-foot wall of water toward the shore. A few moments later, the hatch above one of the wings popped open.
Rescue crews were on the way almost as soon as the plane hit the water. The Coast Guard arrived within minutes, followed closely by police and fire boats.
They helped the men, all apparently unharmed, board the rescue boat. The men were taken to Don Armeni boat launch, and paramedics took them to the hospital.
Meanwhile, the police boat attached a line to the rear landing gear and towed the half-submerged plane closer to shore.
Police and Fire Department divers examined the plane's underside, prepared to stop any fuel leaks. Salvage crews strung bright yellow booms along the rocky shore to contain any spill.
Last night, the Coast Guard and state Department of Ecology said the "sheen of aviation gas" that spilled had no effect on the beach or wildlife.
Attention now turns to salvaging the plane. Officials yesterday expected it would take at least a day before it is back on dry land.
Cranes could be used to lift the plane, which then could be transported to Boeing Field on a flatbed truck, Eckrote said. Foss Environmentals and Global Diving and Environmentals, two local salvagers, were at the crash site last night.
"I'm assuming that they're going to rescue the airplane," said Cummings, the retired mechanic. He couldn't say whether the aircraft might be too damaged, especially from effects of salt water, to be salvaged. "Water doesn't help anything out."
At any rate, Cummings said the Stratoliner's four engines likely will have to be rebuilt.
It's up to the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum to decide whether it still wants to exhibit the Stratoliner, and it's up to Boeing whether it would continue funding the restoration.
Seeing the Stratoliner submerged in water "was very hard. It's like losing a relative," Cummings said.
He hopes the story of the rescued vintage airplane won't end in Elliott Bay.
"It's the last of the pack. It's part of Boeing's history."
Staff reporters Mike Carter, Kyung M. Song, John Zebrowski, Christine Clarridge, Gina Kim, Warren King and Pam Sitt contributed to this report.