ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 2164
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| Date: | Saturday 16 February 2008 |
| Time: | |
| Type: |  Piper J3C-65 Cub |
| Owner/operator: | Private |
| Registration: | G-KIRK |
| MSN: | 12490 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1 |
| Aircraft damage: | Substantial |
| Location: | Caribbean Sea, 120 NW of Puerto Plata -
 Dominican Republic
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Private |
| Departure airport: | Puerto Plata Airport, Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic (POP/MDPP) |
| South Caicos Airport, South Caicos (XSC/MBSC) | |
| Confidence Rating: |  Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources |
A British man was rescued and in stable condition after his plane went down in waters off the Dominican Republic during a solo flight, the U.S. Coast Guard said.
An accident-prone amateur flyer who is attempting to go around the world in a 65-year-old aircraft once used by General George Patton has crash-landed in the Caribbean. Maurice Kirk, 62, a retired veterinary surgeon, issued a mayday call on Saturday before his plane went down about 80 miles from the nearest land.
He was rescued after coastguards picked up signals from his emergency beacon and was taken to hospital on the island of Providenciales in the Turks and Caicos Islands but discharged himself after being treated for head and neck injuries. Yesterday he was believed to be attempting to organise a rescue mission to salvage the stricken aircraft before it sinks.
Mr Kirk began his round-the-world odyssey when he competed in the 2001 London-to-Sydney air race. Since then, he has already had his 1943 Piper Cub aircraft rebuilt after crashing it in Japan in 2005. With unusual aforethought Mr Kirk had the aircraft, which was once used to ferry the American general around the battlefields of Normandy, coated in shark-repelling paint.
Mr Kirk, from Llantwit Major in the Vale of Glamorgan, flew out to the United States on January 22 after the plane, called Liberty Girl, had been restored there. He had spent six weeks flying around the Caribbean.The father of four was flying from the Dominican Republic to the Turks and Caicos when the engine on his two-seater aircraft failed.
He performed a controlled landing in the sea and his emergency beacon was picked up by coastguards in Miami and New Zealand, where the beacon is registered.
Mrs Kirk was calling flying clubs and contacts in America yesterday in the hope that someone could help her husband to retrieve his stricken plane. A spokesman for the US Coastguard said that Mr Kirk was picked up by helicopter after being tracked by an emergency radio beacon. Nick Ameen, a coastguard petty officer in Miami, said: "It may well have saved his life. It was lucky he had that beacon on him. That was a really good decision on his part".
The Piper Cub is capable of taking off and landing on grass strips as short as 200 feet, but it is is handicapped by its top speed of 65mph (104km/h). Maurice Kirk, 62, issued a distress call Saturday before crashing about 120 kilometres northwest of Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic, and a coast guard helicopter found him near dusk by tracking an emergency radio beacon.
"Luckily he had that beacon on him. That was a really good decision on his part," said Petty Officer Nick Ameen, a guard spokesman in Miami. Kirk was in stable condition after being transferred to emergency medical personnel at the international airport in nearby Turks and Caicos, the coast guard said. He had initially planned to land there after taking off from Puerto Plata.
UK registration G-KIRK cancelled by the CAA on 7-2-2012
Sources:
1. cnews.canoe.ca
2. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article3393331.ece
3. CAA: https://siteapps.caa.co.uk/g-info/rk=KIRK
4. http://nzcivair.blogspot.co.uk/2008/06/flying-vet.html
History of this aircraft
Other occurrences involving this aircraft
| 21 October 2005 | G-KIRK | private | 0 | Kanazawa City |  |
w/o |
Media:
G-KIRK flying from London to Sydney in 2001:
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 17-Feb-2008 09:56 | Fusko | Added |
| 18-Feb-2008 23:11 | Fusko | Updated |
| 22-Jun-2016 18:48 | Dr.John Smith | Updated [Cn, Operator, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Embed code, Narrative] |
| 22-Jun-2016 18:49 | Dr.John Smith | Updated [Narrative] |
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