Seaplane Crash: Flipped Upside Down

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0:56It's just after 6.30pm on Monday 19 May 2025. A pale, milky sky above western Canada is streaked with clouds, broken occasionally by slanted shafts of sunlight. In British Columbia, nestled between Vancouver Island and the rugged coast of the mainland, a handful of smaller, sparsely inhabited land masses lie scattered like discarded jigsaw pieces across the cold grey sea. The air is crisp and cool, the glassy surface of the water flat and undisturbed. Then a sound breaks the quiet, the low drone of an engine. Soaring over this pretty patchwork of land and water is a small red and white seaplane, moving with surprise and grace, despite its bulky landing floats.

1:49Inside, Desiree and Marco Krutthoff, a Dutch couple in their 50s, drink in the beautiful scenery sprawling out below them, as their pilot indicates various points of interest. In the seat beside the pilot, Desiree's right hand fidgets in her lap, whilst the fingertips of her left hand dig nervously into the back of the pilot's seat. She's trying to relax and enjoy the trip, but a ripple of unease is running through her. I was scared. I put my arm around the chair of the pilot, and I know that I was telling myself, don't squeeze too much.

2:30About 10 minutes into the flight, the pilot gestures towards the first landing point on their journey, a small bay known as Refuge Cove on West Redonda Island. Shortly afterwards, he begins their descent. In the back of the cabin, Marco is filming the entire experience on his phone, keen to record this memorable trip. As it turns out, it's about to become very memorable, but for all the wrong reasons. Down, down, we touched the water, and the first touch was very hard. What I thought The thought is, come on, pilot, you can do better. That's a little bit clumsy of you. The aircraft lurches as the floats strike the water with a fierce smack, the impact reverberating through the small cabin.

3:18At the same moment, a gust of wind seems to come from nowhere, yanking the plane back up and disrupting its delicate equilibrium. Knuckles white, the pilot tries to re-stabilise the craft, his face grim with concentration. The engine winds as he applies full power, trying to guide the plane into the air again so he can circle back and attempt another landing. But even as he wrestles with the controls, the floats slap against the water once more and the aircraft bounces, making everyone's stomach somersault. With increasing desperation, the pilot tries to regain command of the small seaplane, but it's no use.

3:59Seconds later, the aircraft collides with the water for a third and final time, suddenly tilting as its left wing cleaves the smooth surface of the sea. There is no coming back from it. I saw the wing hitting the water. And at that moment, the pilots yelled something, and then we were flipping over, and I was telling to myself, this can't be real.

4:32Never wondered what you would do when disaster strikes. If your life depended on your next decision, could you make the right choice? Welcome to Real Survival Stories. These are the astonishing tales of ordinary people thrown into extraordinary situations. People suddenly forced to fight for their lives. In this episode, we meet Marco and Desiree Krutoff. In May 2025, In 1995, the hardworking Dutch couple booked an extended holiday to Canada. They hope to reconnect with each other and to take some time to decide what the next phase of their lives should look like now that their children have left home.

5:09But all plans are thrown out of the window when, just days into their holiday, the seaplane they've booked for a sightseeing trip crashes into the icy waters off the coast of British Columbia. When he touched the water again, I thought, stop the plane, this has gone not so good. And then I heard that he screamed. And I didn't know what he said, but I heard a scream. And then he flipped over. Trapped inside the flooded cabin of the small plane, Desiree and Marco must work together to escape the swiftly sinking wreckage before they run out of air or are overcome by the freezing temperature of the water.

5:48The strength of their union will be pushed to the limit as they desperately try to make it out alive. When you are in the water, you have to keep moving, because otherwise you are being soon very cold, and yeah, then you will drown. You can stay four or five minutes in the water, not longer, because the water was also four or five degrees. The rapid countdown to escape is on. And even if they can free themselves, another totally unforeseeable challenge lies ahead. A final sting in the tail awaits. I'm John Hopkins from the Noiser Podcast Network this is Real Survival Stories

6:51It's the morning of Monday the 19th of May 2025, on the eastern shores of Vancouver Island, Canada. In a large car park near the coastal city of Campbell River, a couple in their fifties exit an RV camper van. They make their way towards a small, unassuming building overlooking the water. The woman's blonde, shoulder-length hair flies around her face as she walks, ruffled by a salty sea breeze. Her movements are tinged with apprehension, but her husband has a noticeable spring in his step. He looks up towards the arcing sky above them, where the occasional small plane cuts a trail through the clouds.

7:32Sensing his wife's unease as they near the building, he takes her hand and reassures her quietly in Dutch. This is Marco and Desiree Krutoff, on their way to the ticket office of a seaplane tour operator. Today, they have booked a unique sightseeing trip on board one of the planes that delivers post to these sparsely populated Discovery Islands, sandwiched between Vancouver Island and the mainland. The journey will offer wonderful views of the Canadian landscape, and will also give the tourists the chance to explore some of these tiny, remote communities. But as soon as they step inside the ticket office, it becomes clear that there's a problem.

8:15The staff greet them with startled, confused faces And when Marco and Desiree look around They see five other people sitting in the waiting room The plane can only carry six passengers So they talked with each other behind the desk And, well, there was a mistake One of the employees did give us the confirmation number But never put it in the agenda So we were overbooked They told us, well, one of you can go. And Marco told me, well, you can go. And I said immediately, I'm not going without you. We are going together or we are not going at all. Seeing Desiree and Marco's reluctance to be separated, staff offered to book them on another flight the following day.

9:02But the couple have a very strict holiday schedule and they don't want to change their plans. Eventually, they are offered a private flight later that evening in recompense for their mistake. Marco and Desiree look at each other. This is only the third day of their month-long road trip through Canada. It's not exactly an auspicious start. There was two struggles because she had all the time and bad feeling about this trip. And honestly, I had a very good feeling about this trip and I would like to go. This was one of the highlights. So there was a little bit of a fraction between each other about she would like to skip the plane trip.

9:46And for me, it was a must-go, a must-do. And the second struggle was, of course, they changed the plan. We go in the late afternoon, around six o 'clock. Can we manage that in our schedule? After working out that they can indeed squeeze the later trip into their timetable, Marco turns his attention to the other stumbling block. He tries to assuage his wife's uneasiness, reminding her what an amazing experience it will be. Despite her concerns, Marco's enthusiasm is infectious and his arguments persuasive. For the couple, this isn't an unusual interaction. They've been together for nearly 40 years now, and the dynamic hasn't changed much during that time.

10:32Love on first sight. We are really different. She's more quiet. She's the observer. She's more the stability. And I'm more the pusher. I always want to achieve more. Come on, you can do it. You can do more. And that's all our life. I was 15 and Marco was 17. We went to a bar and there we met each other. We had the same friends. So we had a drink with each other. And well, I think it took a week. And then we were a couple. We still are. Though they are very different in many ways, Desiree and Marco exemplify the idea that opposites attract. He's very warm. He's very kind. He's also very clear. So when he thinks something, he tells you if you like it or not.

11:25But he always means the best. She is a really observer. And she always places herself in the shadow. And I would like that she stand up and get more sunshine from her surrounding. She has really an ear for everyone. And she can chat and have a good conversation with everyone. But she forgot herself also to talk about herself.

12:00After getting married, Jan, the couple went on to have a daughter, Dianne. and a son, Robin. With a family of their own to care for, they focused on work and raising their children. In time, Desiree started her own counselling business and Marco rose to become a project director for a grid operator. The days were long, but the years passed quickly, and together Marco and Desiree built a good life. We were working and raising our children like most people do, and we had a very happy life with the children, and the years were passing and the children were growing up until we were at the point where we are now, that the children are starting their own lives and the two of us being together again.

12:45And so we have to make a few decisions about the future. Once their children flew the nest, Marco and Desiree started discussing what the next decade or two might look like. It was a big conversation, one that wasn't always easy to have amid the hubbub of day-to-day life. Maybe what they needed was a holiday, an opportunity for the space and time to really reconnect and talk about their future together. We both struggled the last few years about how it's going to look like in the next 50 years. So the holiday Canada was really for the great nature, but also for the good conversation, to look forward for the coming 50 years, to have an hike with each other, but also the conversation about what do you want?

13:38What do I want? How do we transform that, etc.?

13:48Having both nursed a long-held desire to visit Canada, the couple decide to hire an RV and spend a month or so driving around the country. Marco, the planner, arranged everything. including booking tickets for a unique seaplane trip around the Discovery Islands. After landing in Canada, the adventure began in earnest. They wasted no time in getting out on the road. And now, having arrived at the seaplane operators' offices, the couple are ready for their appointed flight. But it's here that Desiree's enthusiasm starts to wane as the reality of what they've signed up for sinks in. We saw that of the float planes, And then she said, no, is it really what you want?

14:33That's scary. And we saw them flying, of course, in Vancouver. You see them everywhere. But that was the point that she started to share her bad feeling. And I was thinking, oh, come on, we must do this. This is so amazing. Go to five islands to see communities, to bring the post, to be in contact with all the people, to see the bears, the whales, etc. Desiree eyes the seaplanes warily. But ultimately, Marco's line of reasoning prevails. Isn't this what they came to Canada for, after all? To see the country in all its spectacular glory? It would be a shame to back out now. And so the couple agree to the proposed change of schedule.

15:23With several hours to kill until takeoff, they watch the other seaplanes come and go and get chatting to one of the pilots The conversation gives Desiree the chance to ask some questions about safety that have been bothering her However, the answers aren't all that reassuring The pilot explains that accidents are of course rare But if these types of planes do crash, they tend to flip over leaving passengers very little time to extricate themselves from the wreckage. He told us about how long you can survive in the water, and when you are in the water, that you have to keep moving, because otherwise you are being very soon very cold, and yeah, then you will drown.

16:06So he told us you can stay four or five minutes in the water, not longer, because the water was also four or five degrees. It did make me nervous. Of course it did. Finally, around 6.30 p.m., it's time. Wrapped in lightweight wind jackets, Marco and Desiree head out across the jetty to the small plane, bobbing on the water like a large flightless bird. Before boarding, they are handed life vests. By the time Desiree has secured her life jacket, her husband is already ensconced in the back of the plane, determined that his wife should take the seat up front, next to the pilot. She was a little bit afraid.

16:50And I directly thought, come on, you must sit in the front. There you have a better position, better overview, maybe a little bit less flight sickness, but also be more comfortable. But she always wanted to go in the rear. So when we walked to the airplane, I was faster. And sit in the back. No, you sit in the front. Her heart fluttering, Desiree climbs up the metal rungs of the plane. Her breath catches as the lightweight aircraft bobs and sways with the movement. Inside the cabin, she takes her seat to the right of the pilot, and he adjusts her chair to give her more room, sliding it back as far as it will go.

17:34Then he begins preparations for takeoff. However, before they are airborne, Desiree has one final question for him. He didn't tell me how I could open the door. And there I was very nervous about because in the morning they were telling everything how you can survive in the water. But if you can't open the door, you don't get out of the plane. So I asked the pilot, how do I open the door if we have a crash? Well, he left a little bit and he said, well, OK, there's the handle and you have to pull the handle. And I know that I wanted to ask, do I have to pull the handle to the left or to the right?

18:14And then I said to myself, get a hold of yourself. Palms sweating, Desiree takes a deep breath as the plane judders into life and taxis along the smooth surface of the water. Her shoulders tense as the aircraft picks up speed, the roar of the engine magnified inside the cramped cabin. And then they become weightless as the plane rises into the air and the water falls away below them. In the back, Marco presses his phone to the glass of the window, filming the spectacular view, keen to capture the memory of this amazing trip with his wife. They saw over a stunning tapestry of forest and rock, interspersed with grey-blue channels of water that thread between the verdant islands like veins.

19:03As they fly, the pilot gives them a running commentary about the islands below, his words crackling through the radio system. Despite her unease, Desiree can't help but be entranced by the beautiful scenery spreading out beneath them. As the minutes pass, some of the tension starts to melt from her body. It was so beautiful. It really was. It was so beautiful. The pilot was telling everything about the people that were living on the islands, and really it was amazing. And then he flew us into a little bay, and then he thought, well, this is the first place that we are going to land. The pilot points down to a small horseshoe-shaped bay called Refuge Cove and explains that he is going to fly over it before circling back to land.

19:50Desiree and Marco stare down at the glassy surface of the water as the plane tilts and turns. Then the pilot begins the descent. And the water was really flat, maybe a little bit too flat. But that I've learned later, when it is too flat, you can't see where the wind comes from. We now, we run down, down, we touch the water, and the first touch was very hard. What I thought is, come on, pilot, you can do better. That's a little bit clumsy of you. The plane's float slams down against the sea, making water spray up and splash against the windows. At the exact same moment, a gust of wind grips the small plane and jerks it upwards back into the air, destabilizing the lightweight craft's fragile balance.

20:42Desiree's hand tightens on the back of the pilot's seat, her nerves jangling as the aircraft wobbles. The pilot focuses on recalibrating the plane. He applies full power to the small engine, trying to pull up so he can attempt another landing. He was a little bit mumbling in himself, and I was thinking he was pulling up again, but there was also very much noise. And the noise was, I didn't realise at that point, he was trying to get up again because we were hitting the water too hard and the drivers were too deep in the water. The plane judders and shakes as the pilot tries to coax it back up.

21:21But within seconds, it collides with the water once again. The pilot has lost control. Desiree and Marco do what they can to brace themselves. The aircraft hits the water for a third time, sending a hard, shuddering jolt through its framework. And by the third time, when he touched the water again, I thought, stop the plane, this is gone not so good. A heartbeat later, the plane's left wing slices through the silky surface of the sea, sending spumes of water spraying into the air. The pilot yells something unintelligible, his voice hoarse. Glass shatters and metal crumples as the plane lurches.

22:01And a second later, the world is turned upside down. I saw the wing hitting the water. And at that moment, the pilots yelled something, and then we were flipping over, and I was telling to myself, this can't be real.

22:31It is the evening of May the 19th, 2025. In the frigid waters that separate Vancouver Island from the west coast of the Canadian mainland, a small seaplane bobs upside down, its left wing crushed and mangled by its recent crash. Inside the wreckage, the cabin has already flooded with seawater. It's viciously cold, only a few degrees above freezing. And there, still strapped into their seats, three motionless figures dangle upside down. At first, there's no telling if any of them have survived the impact. Their limbs bob weakly underwater. But then the woman seated next to the pilot suddenly moves, a stream of bubbles dispersing from her mouth.

23:16She blinks, confused and bewildered, having been knocked out by the force of the crash. Then everything comes streaming back. The next thing I can remember is that I'm in the water. It was completely beautiful blue. And I didn't feel cold or anything. I just saw the water. So I tried to get my seatbelt off. It went off. And what I, at that point, found very strange was that I was falling over. But we were upside down. I didn't realize that at that point. After freeing herself from her belt, she tumbles through the water and thuds against the upturned ceiling of the fuselage. Disorientated, she reaches out her arms and starts groping her way through the dark, submerged cabin, trying to find a door.

24:08Slowly, she moves through the cramped space, the air in her lungs rapidly depleting. She only has a matter of seconds to escape.

24:19I was turning around and I know that I didn't have any air, not much. And I went to the door, to the handle, and I was pulling it right and left because I didn't know which way I should pull it, and it didn't move. Desiree wrestles with the handle, trying to yank it this way and that, her movements becoming increasingly frantic. But the door doesn't budge. Her chest grows tight as she heaves on the handle, and dark spots begin swimming at the edge of her vision. I didn't have much oxygen left, and I turned around and I was thinking, the only thing I can do is to kick the door open. I realized I didn't have the oxygen, but I was very calm, so there was no panic or anything like that.

25:07And also there was a little bit of unbelief. I think that's the right word in English. This is not real. So there was something in me that told me I'm going to survive this because the only thing I knew, I had to kick that door open because if I couldn't get out, maybe Marco could. Unsure of Marco's condition after the crash, Desiree clings to the hope that even if she can't make it out of the aircraft, perhaps she can save her husband. With her lungs screaming for air, She uses her last shred of strength to lunge at the door, kicking it with all her might. She feels it give beneath her feet. But it's just a second too late.

25:51I think it moved, but that's the last thing I can't remember. And then it went dark. Everything goes so fast. And people tell them, it looks like your life is passing through your mind. And it does. I had that. I was thinking of my children. I was thinking of my family. I was thinking of my friends. Of course, I was thinking of my husband, but my children, they were the most what was going to my mind because they are very precious to me. Desiree floats, unconscious in the water, only inches from the now open door, just a fraction too late to escape. Meanwhile, in his seat at the back of the aircraft, Marco has finally come to, after being knocked unconscious by the crash.

26:38As chance would have it, he has recently completed offshore safety training in his work for a grid operator, during which he learnt how to escape from a downed helicopter. So in a really huge swimming pool, with waves, with wind, I stepped in a cabin and there they dropped me in the water and trained me how I must rescue myself. but also always when I come in a room, I always look to the emergency door. I always look to an escape route. And is that necessary? No. But that all was very, very, very helpful. Thanks to a combination of training and natural instinct, Marco is able to stay calm. He reaches for his belt, fumbling to undo it.

27:32Still dazed, still hanging upside down, his fingers feel clumsy, and it takes him several attempts to free himself. Eventually, though, it gives way, and he immediately plummets through the water. He hits the ceiling of the plane, then pushes upwards. In a moment of immense good fortune, he emerges into a tiny remaining air pocket. The aircraft is flooding fast, and the pocket is quickly disappearing. but it gives him just enough time to take some much needed breaths. I also recognize directly I have one attempt to go out. So I take some air, not enough, but okay. Try to swim to the front, but that was for me the bad direction.