Second Small Plane Down in Less than A Week
Yesterday, a Cessna 206, piloted by what authorities say an experienced pilot disappeared near Esterillos Esta, Parrita.

The Cessna was carrying five passangers, all foriegners who were skydivers, identified as Milton Purton, a Canadian shydiving instructor, Manuel Sánchez, a Mexican and Americans, Jamec Simplicio, William Slater and Jim Roman.

Slater was the only rescued as he jumped safely into the Pacific Ocean before the small plane went down, according to the Cruz Roja (Red Cross).

The Cessna 206 was last heard from around 5 p.m. Tuesday, and went missing, apparently after encountering bad weather.

Authorities pulled the survivor from the water in la Bahía Los Sueños near the exclusive Marriott Los Suenos Hotel, in Playa Herradura, near Jacó, said Noemy Coto, a spokeswoman for the Cruz Roja.

The man said he and two others were able to jump from the aircraft before it crashed. All were wearing parachutes. The fate of the other five people, including those that jumped, wasn't known.

Authorities took the survivor to a hospital for medical treatment. He apparently spent hours in the water awaiting rescue.

Late Wednesday night, authorities said the survivor told them the plane encountered turbulence before going down.

A few boats were still scouring the ocean for any sign of the aircraft late Wednesday night, but rescuers planned to begin a new search in earnest at daybreak Thursday.

The Ministerio de Seguridad Pública dispatched a helicopter to fly over the area to look for survivors. Speed boats were all used in the rescue efforts, but found nothing. Rescue efforts began again this morning at daybreak.

Vernor Piedra, head of radar operations at Juan Santamaria airport in San José, said that the plane informed the radar tower at 3:30pm that it was over El Paso de Parrita and that weather conditions were good.

At 4:44pm the pilot reported that it had picked up all the skydivers and were going to make one last jump, the ninth for the day.

For the skydivers to make the jump, the airplane needed to go out to sea about five miles, and spiral climb to 8.000 feet and head back towards Esterillos.

Pedro said they lost radar contact with the aircraft when it was reached the 1.000 foot mark and three miles out at sea.

This is the second small plane in less than a week to go down. Last Friday, another Cessna made contact with a mountain peak La Palma, Puriscal, 47 kilometres south of San José, killing the pilot, co-pilot and the only passenger on board.

On  January 5, 2005 a 12 passenger airplane skidded off the runway in Puerto Jiménez. There were no injuries reported in that accident. And on December 22, 2004, a dust crop plane crashed into a banana plantation in Pococí. The pilot suffered minor injuries in that accident.