USCG Video Shows Pilot Ditching Cessna

The rescued pilot of a Cessna 310 twin-engine aircraft ditched in the ocean near Hawaii on Friday was attempting to deliver the plane for an aircraft broker, federal aviation records show. Officials offered no explanation Monday as to why the aircraft may have run out of fuel. Charles Brian Mellor, 65, of Spain, was an experienced airman, licensed in the U.S. as an instructor and commercial pilot, according to FAA records. Monterey Regional Airport Operations Manager Ken Griggs said Mellor purchased 151.8 gallons of fuel at the airport before departing for Hawaii on Friday morning. Online flight records show the 33-year-old craft had flown from South Carolina to Arkansas on Sept. 11, but no records show when it arrived in California. Mellor had flown it from Tracy to Monterey on Oct. 4, and filed a plan for a trip from Oakland to Hawaii the next day, but the flight was canceled.