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Teen survives plane crash, 10-foot seas

The 16-year-old Georgia girl tried to swim to shore after her small plane went down in the Atlantic Ocean on Sunday.

By STEPHEN NOHLGREN
Published December 21, 2005

During Georgia inter-scholastic swim meets, Rachel Hostetler swam the 100-meter breast stroke for Rome High School.

On Sunday, she swam for her life through stormy seas.

Hostetler, 16, and two of her friends were headed for a Bahamas vacation, along with the father of one of the girls, when their five-seater Cessna aircraft plunged into the Atlantic about a mile off St. Augustine.

Hostetler told rescuers she didn't know what happened to the others but that she was trying to swim to shore when she was rescued about an hour and fifteen minutes after the crash in gale force winds.

Waves ran as high as 10 feet and the water temperature was 62 degrees.

Hostetler's rescue "is the one bright spot" in a two-day search and rescue effort that ended Tuesday, said Charles Mulligan, spokesman for the St. Johns County Sheriff's Office.

The plane's pilot was Gary Tillman, 43, who owned an insurance agency in Rome. He and his daughter, Hannah, 16, were still missing Tuesday, 48 hours after the crash. U.S. Coast Guard "survivability" models show they could last no more than 34 hours, said spokesman Donnie Brzuska.

The fourth passenger, Anna Kipp, 16, was pronounced dead from asphyxia Sunday afternoon at Flagler Hospital, Brzuska said. She was wearing a life jacket but had no pulse when Coast Guardsmen pulled her from the water about an hour and 45 minutes after the plane went down.

Hostetler could not be reached for comment. She spent one night in a hospital before returning to Rome on Monday. Her parents issued a brief statement that she was "doing very well under the circumstances."

She was rescued by lifeguards from the St. Johns County Fire and Rescue unit who launched a small boat after Tillman radioed St. Augustine Airport that he was losing altitude.

Hostetler said she and Kipp were sitting in the back seat and managed to get out of the Cessna 195 before it quickly sank. Tillman and his daughter were in the front seat.

Hostetler was not wearing a life jacket when rescued, Mulligan said. "We did not have an in-depth conversation, but she indicated she was trying to swim to shore."

Kipp and Hannah Tillman attend Darlington School, a private preparatory school in Rome. Two 14-year-olds from Darlington drowned in the Gulf of Mexico this spring during a school canoe trip off the Suwanee River.

Darlington is closed for Christmas break, but according to an announcement on the school's Web site, the chapel opened Tuesday morning so students could mourn their schoolmates. Grief counselors will be on hand to help students when they return Jan. 4.

[Last modified December 20, 2005, 19:30:05]