“I thought I was going to die.”
Phil Bauer forced those seven words Friday morning when asked about a plane crash on Lizard Island off the northeast coast of Australia Jan. 8.
All 10 on the Cessna 208B Grand Caravan thought the same thing, felt the same thing, as the plane’s engine over-torqued early in the flight.
Bauer was enjoying a rare vacation with his wife Ashley, owners Richard and Tammy Rigney, their daughter Madison, bloodstock agent John Moynihan, his wife Helena and a few other friends.
“Trip of a lifetime. Literally,” Bauer said. “We knew something was awry. We were in the air maybe five or 10 minutes and the plane started registering that it was on fire. You can’t slow the engine, it’s like a runaway horse. The only way to stop it is cut the engine.”
The pilot turned the plane around and aimed at the runway where they had just departed. Houses stood tall in front of the landing strip. Cut the engine too soon, hit the houses. Cut the engine too late, miss the runway. The pilot opted for the latter, knowing there was no way to stick any kind of landing.
“He couldn’t get it down because we were going too fast. He had already cut the engine so he couldn’t take off again. We were running out of runway,” Bauer said. “It wasn’t panic until it was going to happen.”
It happened.
The plane bounced three times on one wheel at the end of the runway and then careened into a 300-yard stretch of sand and bushes between the runway and the ocean cliff. The nose of the plane gouged into the ground, eventually flipped and shuddered to a an upside-down stop.
A 200 mile an hour plane crash.
“Going in, you’re like ‘Well, this is it.’ I don’t necessarily know if your life flashes before your eyes, kids flash. It’s like, ‘This isn’t…this isn’t…we’re not ready,’ ” Bauer said. “He really buried it in the sand and the nose finally caught and we flipped. That thing was built like an old Buick or something, she held together. You’re like, ‘What in the hell just happened?’ People were yelling for each other, trying to get unbuckled. Luckily, they were the seatbelts that came across the shoulder. Started evacuating the plane, the pilot is yelling, ‘Run away, it’s going to blow up.’ ”
The pilot and passengers ran – staggered – away from the crash. They found chairs near a walking trail and began a triage unit.
“When everything stops, you’re just like, ‘We’re alive.’ I don’t know how to describe it, almost disbelief. Everybody was crying. You muscle up some courage and you try to help people,” Bauer said. “It was like you were on a movie set. One of people on there was a firefighter, a friend of the Rigneys, he was doctoring up Richard. We’re sitting on these chairs. Richard’s head is all wrapped in gauze. There’s blood on your hands. John’s arm is broken and we’re just sitting there.”
Everyone survived. Bumped, battered and a few breaks, they walked away.
“Richard took it the worst; a bush came through the window and tore his head and his hands up. I was literally sitting right behind him, and I walked away without a scratch,” Bauer said. “My knees were really sore from banging together when we flipped and landed. My wife’s chest and pec muscle still aren’t right from the seatbelt whiplash. John broke his arm, I think it was a stress fracture. Richard had a fracture in his collarbone. Tammy had a big bump on her head. But overall, you talk about plane crashes, it was remarkable how we all walked away.”
And back to work.
Three weeks after the crash, Tipsy Tammy broke her maiden at Fair Grounds. Two days later, Speedy Traveler took an allowance race at Fair Grounds. Halina’s Forte won the Ruthless Stakes at Aqueduct Feb. 17. Buchu won the Grade 2 Appalachian in April. Legadima secured the Goldfinch Stakes at Prairie Meadows in May. Warrior Johny dominated a tough allowance race here Opening Day. Off a career-best 33-win, $3.9 million season in 2023, Rigney Racing is rolling with 13 wins and $1.3 million this year. A rare private trainer in a world of super stables, Bauer is thankful for the opportunity.
“It’s been the biggest blessing in my life,” Bauer said.
Reminded of the plane crash, the 39-year-old trainer switched his answer. Fast.
“Yeah, I would put that at the top,” Bauer said.
He tries not to think about it.
“When you go to places where you haven’t seen people for a while, they ask you about it and it resurfaces,” Bauer said. “For me, it’s more the audio. I’m pretty sure I just closed my eyes and tried to tighten down. The noises that you were hearing while it was going on, that’s what sticks in my mind.”
During this year’s Derby, the passengers on that fateful flight got together, praised the pilot and celebrated being alive. Yeah, it was that simple.
“We call it the Miracle Nine,” Bauer said.
