Evening star., 1940-12-26
Fine Work byCrew
Saves Passengers
In Plane Wreck
As 1t Is, They Receive
Only q Duekine in
Brazilion Boy Landing
BY ALLEN HADEN,
Chicago Daily News Foreign
CORRESPONDENT.

BAHIk., Brazil Dec. Is Delayed
Our plane was wrecked on landing
in the Bay OF All Saints this Christ
mas Day. None of the II passengers
and the crew of four was more than
slightly hurt, At this writing, the
plane is nosed into the soft mud Of
the bay.
We were coming in for q landing
on the bay as usual I had just
put down a copy of current
American magazine and idly
thought to myself of the baker S
dozen of landings I had made on
this trip as we approached the
water.
When aloft, one does not seem to
travel very fast. The nearer the
water the swifter seems the speed.
I loosened my safety belt slightly.
The bottom of our plane touched
the little wavelets. then settled too
quickly and heavily. We swung
violently to the right. The two
men in the seat across the aisle
were thrown forward; the arm rest
broke I remember thinking they
should have fixed their belts more
tightly. My knee hurt slightly.
None Shows Any Panic.
None of the passengers showed any
panic. I think we all assumed that
the ship had merely pancaked but
would float.
Get your lifebelts,' the steward
cried in Portuguese. Quite calmly,
we all reached for the packaged
belts under the seats; they were
vestlike. At that point, one man
cried anxiously, How do you put
them on?"
The captain of the ship was al
ready standing on the thorax of the
mighty insect. AS I came out OF the
aft opening, he yelled at me and at
three other men who had preceded
me:
Passengers jump into the sea! We
are sinking!"
We Jumped. The water was rather
soupy and there was no particular
discomfort My glasses, which
had forgotten, got dislodged. but I
put them back on The little fishing
boats, which look so like Egyptian
feluccas, were already pulling toward
us. The company launch was nos
ing our way. We must have been
in the water 10 minutes.
A few of us lay in the water. rather
enjoying the adventure. But there
was a sickening moment when the
ship lifted her big silver tail into the
air. Somebody gave a cry of warn
ing. She did not sink, but dug her
nose into the mud.
Passenger Shows Courage.
A few feet away the co-pilot was
supporting a man who could not
swim. Between us. we hoisted him
into one of the boats. He was limp
but perfectly calm, and that takes
courage.
The only near casualty was one
Brazilian who was knocked out and
tainted There had not been time to
remove him. When it appeared that
the ship would not sink, he was left
literally high and dry The sailors
in the launch removed him first to
shore.
Friendly Brazilians picked me up
and sped me to shore. After cup
of coffee, careening taxi brought
me to town in my wet clothes. The
news has just come that the pilot
swerved to avoid fishing boat in his
landing path. Had our plane hit it
we would probably all be dead.
The fine control and command
exercised by the Brazilian crew of
this plane deserves high commenda-
ton. Their GOODNESS helped the
passengers to keep cool. This might
have been tragedy. AS it is, we
only got a ducking.
(Copyrieht, 1910. Chicago Daily News, Inc. }