(CNN) -- A 65-year-old man flying from California to Hawaii was forced to ditch his plane in the Pacific Ocean on Friday night 13 miles off the coast of Hilo after running out of gas, the U.S. Coast Guard said. Fortunately he was rescued without injury. Watch the video. Cheers, - jahman.

That was a pretty damn good landing, but a pretty poor bit of flight planning it would seem, unless of course there was some kind of fuel leak or unexpectedly strong headwinds. Al

Indeed, a textbook landing. The pilot seems experienced (a ferry pilot), so something must have gone wrong. Note that mid-flight he climbed from 6,000 ft to 12,000 ft, perhaps in search of more favourable (or less un-favourable) winds. See the ASN accident report, Flight track, altitude and speed. Cheers, - jahman.

Interesting. Embarrassing, but God knows what happened.

I would have thought that you would have enough handle on your projected fuel burn by the turn-around point to know that you could make it. scott s..

I'm just delighted that the pilot made it out safely. It's a pity that such a nice vintage aircraft was lost, even though insurance will cover the hull loss, the aircraft itself can never be replaced...

I would have thought that you would have enough handle on your projected fuel burn by the turn-around point to know that you could make it.

Passing the point of no return doesn't necessarily mean your arrival at the destination is assured, e.g. should you encounter higher than anticipated headwinds.

Interesting. Embarrassing, but God knows what happened.

The pilot knows too, and fortunately in this case he will be able to tell us! :( Cheers, - jahman.

There is a couple of tropical system in the Pacific right now, a Hurricane and Tropical storm, maybe he had to divert to avoid them, eating up some fuel.

The tropical storm remnants of Irwin seems to have been too far South-East (5 p.m. Thu) of the great circle route (zoom out a tick) to affect the winds. Or perhaps not? Another question I have is why would the pilot climb? Wouldn't the prevailing westerly headwinds be stronger at altitude? Cheers, - jahman.

I guess it's just kind of natural to climb when you think you are going to be introuble over water, because it would at least give you some options, for example, you might see a ship five miles away and want to ditch near it, and with some height, you could glide to it. Al

He may have been finding better combination of winds and true airspeed at a higher altitude. In a naturally aspirated engine the sweet spot is around 8500 feet.

He may have been finding better combination of winds and true airspeed at a higher altitude. In a naturally aspirated engine the sweet spot is around 8500 feet.

Would that be because the throttle at full open equals the MAP for economy cruise? Cheers, - jahman.

Would that be because the throttle at full open equals the MAP for economy cruise? Cheers, - jahman.

Help me out. MAP? I'm usually good with acronyms. Weird thing is, sometimes with a strong headwind you'll get better range with 75%-85% or more power.

Help me out. MAP? I'm usually good with acronyms. Weird thing is, sometimes with a strong headwind you'll get better range with 75%-85% or more power.

MAP - MAnifold Pressure. The idea being that when the throttle is only partly open the engine is working against a vacuum. Glider folks have a rule to improve range: Add half the headwind component to your IAS. Funny thing is his GS decreased from 177 KN to 154 KN after the climb. Cheers, - jahman.

MAP - MAnifold Pressure. The idea being that when the throttle is only partly open the engine is working against a vacuum. Glider folks have a rule to improve range: Add half the headwind component to your IAS. Funny thing is his GS decreased from 177 KN to 154 KN after the climb. Cheers, - jahman.

Dur. Sorry. Context should have given that on away... And yeah.