Interview with Richard Schuman, owner of the plane which made a forced water landing after which Loretta Fuddy died while floating, wearing her life...

Good morning Orly,

Here is my report:

2013 12 16 @ 2215

Richard Schuman returned my call from earlier in the morning and my second call in the afternoon.  Schuman is the owner of Makani Kai Air.   Here is the information I gathered from the phone conversation:

*The plane is down in about 75 feet of water.  It is an area where the wave action can be extreme.  The wave action is currently in that state.  The plane can be seen from the air and is intact.

*The insurance Schuman carries provides for recovery of the plane.  He has talked to a salvage company and it is likely the plane will be recovered.   It will be floated to the surface and lifted with a crane onto a barge or large ship.

*The engine on the plane is a pratt and whitney PT-6.  It is basically a jet engine with a prop  (TURBO-PROP).  Schuman indicated that the pilot heard a bang.  In a jet engine the blades are spinning at a very high rate of speed to the order of 25,000 RPM.  A turbine blade failure at this high speed would cause a catastrophic failure to the engine.   He suspects a blade failure to be the cause.

*Schuman reported that similar failures were reported on similar engines within the last couple of months.  He pointed to Malkali Air (spelling ??) with airplanes with a similar engine experienced a similar failure at 7,000 feet.

*Schuman is anxious to have the plane salvaged and the engine analyzed by experts.  Prat and Whitney is showing little interest in the accident.

*The plane was flying out of an uncontrolled airport.  In other words there was no tower or humans controlling the landings and takeoffs.

*Immediately after the failure a “MAYDAY” was signaled.  A friend of Schuman flying in the area responded and reached the scene quickly after the crash landing.  Schuman and the friend were in radio contact with each other.  The friend reported 9 bobbing vests.  As Schulman said: 8 +1  eight passengers and the pilot.

The circling airplane was relieved by a coast guard aircraft that reported the same information.  Nine bobbing life vests.

*Schuman blamed the pilot for speaking from the hip and reporting one passenger in the fuselage.  Schuman claimed everyone survived the crash landing and made it safely to the water as reported by his pilot friend and the coast guard.

*I asked if Johanna Randolph was on the plane.  He thought for awhile and said that the name did not sound familiar.

* Schuman does not suspect foul play.  He thinks that the autopsy will show that Fuddy died from a heart attack or stroke.

*Schuman said there are rumors on the island that someone might be trying to kill Fuddy because she supported gay marriage.  He said that was non-sense.

*I asked if he knew Fuddy to be gay.   He said he did not know.  He did not know where she lived.

I am familiar with Turbo-prop planes.  I flew then in the navy and sold turbine blades after my military service.  When I flew the last time I actually moved to a different seat because I was sitting next to the jet engine and I did not like the fact that I was so close to the spinning blades.  At 25,000 RPM a failed blade will rip apart an engine.

Schuman impressed me as a solid individual.

Let’s see what the autopsy says.

Best regards,

Ken