Father and Daughter in Haiti after SR22 Ditching

Stephen Pope

Tuesday, January 10, 2012 at 11:22 PM ET

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Key Takeaways:

An Alabama father and daughter survived an emergency landing at sea while flying their Cirrus SR22 to Haiti for a medical mission.
Their plane experienced engine failure an hour after departing Miami, forcing them to deploy the aircraft's parachute system for a controlled splashdown near the Bahamas.
Despite the harrowing ordeal and rescue, Dr. Richard McGlaughlin and his daughter, Elaine, promptly continued their journey to Haiti on a commercial flight to complete their medical aid mission.

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A father and daughter from Alabama are continuing their medical mission in Haiti after safely ditching off the coast of Florida near the Bahamas on Saturday when the engine in their Cirrus SR22 suddenly quit.

Dr. Richard McGlaughlin, 59, and his daughter, Elaine McGlaughlin, 25, departed from their home near Birmingham, Alabama, on Saturday for a planned stop in Miami, before continuing on to Haiti. About an hour after the pair took off from Miami, their Cirrus suffered an engine failure. The crew of a nearby Coast Guard HC-144 patrol aircraft heard McGlaughlin’s radio distress call and immediately dispatched a rescue helicopter to the scene.