Pilot of Missionary Plane Relives Tragedy

April 25, 2001 -- In a dramatic story of tragedy and dedication, Kevin Donaldson, the pilot of the American missionary plane that was shot down over the Amazon River by a Peruvian military jet, relives the moments before the tragedy for ABCNEWS' Good Morning America today.

An American missionary and her 7-month-old daughter were killed in Peru last Friday when a Peruvian military plane — operating with information provided by a U.S. surveillance plane operated by a CIA crew — shot down the small civilian plane mistaking it for a plane on a drug run.

Donaldson, fellow-missionary Jim Bowers and his son Cory escaped the plane unharmed. Bowers' wife Veronica and his infant daughter Charity were killed by a single bullet. He spoke to Good Morning America's Diane Sawyer from his hospital bed in Reading, Penn.

D.S.: Mr. Donaldson, I know you've been through surgery. How are you feeling this morning?

K.D.: Pretty well. Pretty well. I had a reasonable amount of rest.

D.S. : And what are the doctors saying about your legs, particularly your right leg which was so shattered?

K.D.: It can be repaired.They're doing a good job. It's a long road ahead.it will be about a year, they'reestimating, for total recovery.

D.S.: You were in communication with the tower, because one of the questions has been was thereradio communication, were you available for radio communication.

K.D.: Yes, I was.I had told them my altitude, my location, my estimated time, my departure point, everything thatis standard procedure for reporting to the tower.That's the only frequency that Iwork on. That's who I was talking to.

D.S.: And you had filed a full flight plan?

K.D.: I had filed a flight plan theday before that was an out and return flight plan because there's nowhere to file a flightplan at the other end so I had to file with a request for overnight. I filed that the day before.

D.S.: Was there any activity by thePeruvian plane approaching you?Did it tilt its wings, signal inany way?Did the pilot signal in any way what he wanted you to do?

K.D.: Well, it would have been too far away for me to have seen anyhand motions, anything by the pilot. It was swooping, as I say, from one side under me up to the other side. If it was signals of any sort, it was nothing that I understoodas a signal. I just continued steadily on my route, and I asked the tower whythe aircraft was there.

D.S.: And what did they say?

K.D.: I didn't get a response from the tower right then.It was rather confusing there.

D.S.: So did you say to yourself, 'This is trouble, big trouble?'

K.D.: Well, it was. I knew it was, it concerned me. I didn't know at the moment thatit was big trouble. But I knew that they are around,that they do that job of intercepting drug planes, so Iwas concerned that they were there.

D.S.: The next thing you feel, you have said, is one horrible blast?

K.D.: Yeah, just a whole rattling, the impact of all the bullets hitting the aircraft, the intense heat that filled thecockpit. I felt my legs might be hit but not anything specific, just a total impact of everything in one instant, yes.

D.S.: I want to getsome sense of the first time yourealized that a plane was approaching you.

K.D.: Well, I actually was not the first one who saw the aircraft.My passenger, Jim, saw the airplane beside me and pointed it out to me. That was the very first.It was off to my right side, then swung under me up to my left side. At that point I was communicating with the tower.That was the initial contact that I had with the military aircraft.

D.S.: So you were in communication with the tower?Because one of the questions hasbeen, was there radio communication, were you available for radio communication?

K.D.: Yes, I was. I had told them my altitude, my location, my estimated time, my departure point, everything thatis standard procedure for reporting the tower.that's the only frequency that Iwork on.it's who I was talking to.

D.S.: As they're spraying bullets at you, you're yelling into the tower? What are you saying?

K.D.: Well, I immediately, first ofall, pulled — I shut off the fuel because a fire had started immediately in the cockpit.I keyed the mike, and I started diving the aircraft because I knew I needed to get to the ground to get the fire out.I was hollering, "They're killing us, they're killing us!"in Spanish, to the tower.

D.S.: They're killing us, they're killing us. In 90 seconds you were plunging, trying to control the plane.So many pilots have said, how did he do that? Physically, how did he do that with shattered legs, unable to control the rudder pedal what did you do, physically?

K.D.: I don't know what I did.It was not of me.It was God who took that little aircraft in his hands and lowered it to earth, really.For pilots, my elevator had beendamaged.I had very little elevator control, just a tiny bit.I didn't really know that I did not have use of my right foot until the moment when I needed the right rudder the most, at touchdown,and there was nothing there.That's why we hit sideways into the water.

It was only God against the lawsof physics that kept that aircraft from flipping on its back which a float plane normally would do in that situation.But it hit hard to the right andthen kicked back and hard to theleft and stopped, literally within 50 feet of where we hit.It was literally God who loweredthat little aircraft to the ground.

D.S.: I know Mr. Bowers was trying to put out the fire, at the sametime trying to take care of his wife and daughter.Did you know how badly they had been hit?

K.D.: No, I didn't.I did not know at that point.I know he called for the fire extinguisher.I showed him where it was because I couldn't reach it.He had reached it and put the fire out.I did not know the extent of theinjuries of Ronnie and Charity.

D.S.: When you're in the water, theplane is tilting upside down.How do you get the passengers out?

K.D.: Well, it landed upright.It was floating momentarily there. So in that amount of time — of course, as soon as we hit the water and the doors opened, the wind was stopped and it just burst into flames all inside, outside, on the water.The fuel was all over the water because the fuel tank had about riddled, too.

So I jumped out on my side, onceagain not realizing my right foot wasn't there.

I fell on to the float and got back up into the cockpit, behindmy seat to help the passengers.Jim had already gotten Corey outand was getting Ronnie and Charity out.

I saw that they were getting outtheir side. So I grabbed a life preserver that I had there, I pulled the release on it. But it had a hole right through it, so it was of no use so then.

So then I jumped into the river on that sideto get away from the flames. And Jim and — and his family got into the riveron the other side.

D.S.: And Mr. Bowers is trying to keep his, his terribly wounded wife and daughter afloat in the water. You put Corey on your back?

K.D.: I called for—I swam around the plane. I called for Corey tocome to me, and yes. I told him `hold on my back' because I know that he wasa good little swimmer. But I also knew that it could be a while of swimming.And I didn't know how long he could go.

D.S.: How did you keep treading water with your legs in that shape?

K.D.: Well, I took my shoes off, first thing, knowing the weight ofthose I did not want to have. And then I just did what I had to. Keptkicking.

D.S.: Was the pain almost unbearable?

K.D.: The pain, really, I didn't notice. In the trauma of themoment, the adrenaline, the shock, I didn't notice the pain.

D.S.: And you and Mr. Bowers cried out to God?

K.D.: We did. We literally did. We literally did. We just askedGod to help us, save us.

D.S.: And then a Peruvian villager's boat came and picked you up.

K.D.: Yes, they did. They came up from the village below.

D.S.: I think the question so many people have, Ms. Donaldson, is knowingwhat you now know about the CIA surveillance plane — there's even a report thismorning that some of the Americans onboard the CIA plane didn't have adequateSpanish to communicate with their liaison in a moment like this. Knowing whatyou now know, do you feel any sense at all of anger or blame?

K.D.: I'm not seeking to blame anyone. I, as much aseverybody, hate drugs. I want it stopped. But the whole procedure,the process, needs a thorough review and needs a lot of going over to avoidsituations like this. But I'm not seeking to blame anyone.

D.S.: Mrs. Donaldson, how about you? When you hear the Peruvians say that perhaps your husband didn't file a flight plan or was on the wrong frequency,what about you?

Mrs. Bobbi Donaldson (Wife of Pilot Shot Down): I've lived there a long time.

And they say whatever comes to their mind first — most of us do — I knew itwasn't true.

D.S.: Are both of you ready to go back and resume the work in Peru?

K.D.: I'm — in my heart, yes, I'm — I'm ready to go back. It'll be awhile physically before I can. But yes, we still love the place. We love thepeople. And we do want to return.

D.S.: Well as I said before, you teach everybody a lot about dedication.And we just wish you well and — and we'll be offering prayers for you duringthe next surgery. And thank you so much for being with us this morning.