2 found safe in ocean after plane disappears from radar

Now searching are HC-130 Hercules airplane crews and MH-65 Dolphin helicopter crews from Air Station Barbers Point with a Navy MH-60R helicopter crew from the USS Chung Hoon.

News sources report this morning that David McMahon is one of the people on board the plane that disappeared from radar off the Kona Coast late last night. A Coast Guard Cutter is en route to that area.

An MH-65 Dolphin helicopter crew hoisted the survivors at 11:35 a.m. Friday (July 15) about nine miles north of the Kona airport, a mile and half offshore. They initially diverted to investigate the report, but are not involved in the ongoing search Friday.

The tower confirmed they then lost contact with the pilot in the plane no longer appeared on radar.

They are searching 40 nautical miles off the coast of Kona, after the Joint Rescue Coordination Center in Honolulu received notification from Honolulu control facility personnel that the pilot of Piper PA23 aircraft with two people aboard radioed an in-air emergency.

The Coast Guard says McMahon and the woman he was flying with were treated for minor injuries.

Rescue swimmer Kevin Cleary described to Hawaii News Now the unforgettable feeling of bringing the two to Kona Airport and seeing them reunite with their families.

Searching Friday morning were an HC-130 Hercules airplane, MH-65 Dolphin helicopter, Navy MH-60R helicopter, the USS Chung Hoon, USGS Galveston Island, as well as worldwide assets, including a P3 aircraft out of New Zealand, participating in RIMPAC 2016 exercises, said Carr.

Sydnie Uemoto with her mother standing over her.. He said he was on his way from Oahu to the Big Island on Friday to see his son, a Kailua, Oahu, resident and a commercial pilot for Mokulele Airlines.

The dual-engine plane was traveling from Kona, on the island of Hawai’i, to Maui on Thursday afternoon when it disappeared from radar screens 25 miles northwest of Kona.

“What a way to celebrate aloha Friday”, Coast Guard spokeswoman Petty Officer 2nd Class Tara Molle, said of the relief in finding the two alive. The Coast Guard identified them as pilot David McMahon, 26, and Sidney Uemoto in her 20s. The Chung Hoon, Royal New Zealand air force and U.S. Air Force HC-130 are participating in RIMPAC 2016. The U.S. Navy and U.S. Air Force also joined in the search.