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SYDNEY: An Australian pin-up pilot forced to bring an emergency medical flight down in shark-infested waters was Friday hailed a hero for the daring landing from which all aboard escaped unharmed.
Captain Dominic James ditched the Pel-Air Aviation air ambulance off Norfolk Island, north of Sydney, on Wednesday night after four aborted landings as poor weather closed in.
As the aircraft ran dangerously low on fuel, James decided to make the water landing rather than miss another run at the runway or have the Westwind jet splutter to a stop mid-air.
"This is right at the gold medal level for aviation; if he's not a hero already he is well on his way to being one," Pel-Air Aviation chairman John Sharp said.
Rescuers said thirty-something James, who this year featured in women's magazine Cleo's 'Bachelor of the Year' competition, ensured his passengers and crew stuck together in the cold water as they awaited a rescue in the dark.
"I've got to give him full credit, actually," Norfolk Island airport manager Glenn Robinson told The Australian newspaper.
"He was the last out of the water, he got on board the boat, he did a (head) count and then he started to relax. He was professional to a tee."
Robinson said the landing invited comparisons to January's "Miracle on the Hudson" in which a US pilot landed an Airbus A320 on the river in New York and all passengers and crew survived.
"I mean, it's not the same scale but there wasn't a metre and a half swell to contend with (on the Hudson) and it was the same in that all six people walked away from it," he said.
The flight, which was carrying a woman recovering from surgery, her husband, two medical crew and a co-pilot, was travelling from Samoa to Melbourne when it hit poor weather as it tried to land to refuel at Norfolk Island.
Those onboard managed to climb over the wings of the plane to exit, grabbing three life jackets on their way out, and remained in the water for some 90 minutes before they were rescued.
Norfolk Island resident Darren Bates, who owns the fishing boat used in the rescue, said he did not expect anyone to have survived.
"When I saw them in the water my heart just sank - that's the (most) shark-infested part of the island. It's amazing they survived," he told the paper.
- AFP/yb
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