Survivor pays tribute to Solihull pilot killed in Caribbean plane crash
BRAVE Midland pilot Robert Mansell sacrificed himself to save passengers when his plane ditched into the Caribbean sea, tearful survivors confirmed today.
Mr Mansell, aged 32, originally from Knowle, near Solihull, died after ditching his light aircraft into the sea after an engine failed during an island-hop flight.
He was knocked unconscious by the impact and passengers battled desperately to release him from his safety belt as the plane began to sink.
But they lost their fight to save him and his body has still not been recovered.
The video below is from a foreign TV station and includes images of the search and rescue operation:
All nine passengers survived the crash which happened as Mr Mansell was flying them from the island of Curacao, north of Venezuela, to the neighbouring island of Bonaire.
Survivor Erik Hagedoorn, from Wilemstad, Holland, was among those who posted a YouTube tribute to Mr Mansell. He said: “With tears in my eyes, I am watching this video.
“Pilot Mansel saved me and all others who where on board by landing as best as possible. We had a chance to escape.
“Because of him I am still alive.”
He said the passengers, a mixture of Dutch tourists and local island people, all owed their lives to him.
He said: “I certainly know one thing. It is because of the pilot that our aeroplane landed so smoothly we have all survived.
“The landing on the sea gave us the opportunity to come out.
“It is quite awful that only he has not survived.
“I called my wife and mother and put on a life jacket. The water came very close. At one point I thought it is finished.”
Mr Mansell was flying a twin-engine Britten-Norman Islander for Divi Divi Air.
In a final Mayday call he said: “I’ve lost one of my engines – so long.”
Divi Divi spokesman Simon Janzen said: “He’s a hero. All the passengers survived and he is the only one missing. If he wasn’t a good pilot, he couldn’t have ditched it so everyone could be saved.
“Other pilots wouldn’t have known what to do but he landed the aircraft so that everyone could get out safely.”
Mr Mansell studied aeronautical engineering at Bristol University, before training for his pilot’s licence in Australia.
He flew for two companies in the Solomon Islands, about 800 miles west of Papua New Guinea, before returning to the UK.
He then joined Divi Divi Air, which was established in 2001 on the island of Curacao in the Caribbean.
The Royal Netherlands Navy as today still searching for Mr Mansell’s body and wreckage of the plane.
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