A Rhode Island couple is lucky to be alive after their small plane, which ran out of power, crashed into Narragansett Bay.
On Saturday, husband and wife Paul and Alysia Larson were nearing the end of their flight when their plane began losing power, forcing an emergency water landing just out of reach of Quonset State Airport.
Alysia, a mother of seven and pilot of the plane, feared she and her 26-year-old husband would not survive because they would have to land on water.
“There was a moment where I thought, ‘I’m not sure we’re going to make it,’” pilot Alysia told the local NBC affiliate. WJAR.
‘And then I think: ‘No, we’re not going to die today. We’re going to make it.”
Husband and wife Paul and Alysia Larson were nearing the end of their flight when their plane began to lose power, forcing an emergency landing just out of range of Quonset State Airport
Alysia, a mother of seven and pilot of the plane, feared that she and her husband of 26 years would not survive because they would have to land on water.
When the yellow plane (in the photo sticking out of the water) made contact with the bay, it immediately began to fill with water
“We were on a half-mile final,” she continued. “We were so close to the runway. I suddenly thought I needed to add a little bit of power to gain some height, but I had no power. Then I realized we weren’t going to make it to the runway.”
The couple flew in Alysia’s late father’s single-engine Pipe Comanche, which she grew up with as a little girl.
Both pilots were volunteers with the Civil Air Patrol, so they were trained in what to do in these types of emergencies.
They immediately sent a distress call to the Quanset control tower, went through their emergency checklist and prepared for a crash into the icy bay.
Alysia said if her husband hadn’t had the quick instinct, they probably wouldn’t have survived.
“He had the foresight to unlock and open the door before he was hit,” Larson added.
“Maybe it saved our lives, because you never know, if you can’t get the door open against the water pressure, that would have been a completely different scenario. And the Piper Comanche only has one door.”
As soon as the plane made contact with the water, it immediately began to fill with water. But the couple knew exactly what to do.
The couple flew in Alysia’s late father’s single-engine Pipe Comanche, which she grew up with as a little girl.
Both pilots were volunteers with the Civil Air Patrol, so they were trained in what to do in these types of emergencies
Alysia painted a visual picture describing how she and her husband managed to stay afloat.
“We both took a wing,” Alysia said. ‘We were both on the separate right and left wings. The nose was nose-down and absorbed water quickly. Then things started to go really fast. At the very end we were both just holding on to the tail.’
Luckily, Alysia had tucked her phone down her shirt when she escaped the plane. She called 911 and North Kingstown emergency crews responded to their emergency call just before 3 p.m.
The couple remained in the water for more than 20 minutes before rescue crews reached them.
‘I was ready to go swimming straight away, he (Paul) said no, we have to stay near the plane and out of the water as long as possible. I followed his example in that,” Alysia said.
The U.S. Coast Guard confirmed with WJAR that the plane is at the bottom of the bay, split into two pieces
The U.S. Coast Guard confirmed with WJAR that the plane sank to the bottom of the bay and split into two pieces.
The couple began swimming toward shore when Paul began to tire.
“There was a moment where I thought, can I drag Paul?” Larson recalled, “He had a lot more clothes on, he had a leather jacket on, so it was harder for him.”
Alysia and Paul were rescued with minor injuries by North Kingstown Fire and Police Departments, the U.S. Coast Guard and the RI Department of Environmental Management.
The two reunited with their families on Saturday evening, the day before Easter Sunday.
“When I saw all five of my kids and my son-in-law,” Larson choked up. ‘An overwhelming feeling of gratitude.’
