Record South Whidbey
INSIDE: Music is in the air, Island Life, A12
SATURDAY, JULY 28, 2012 | Vol. 88, No. 60 | www.SOUTHWHIDBEYRECORD.com | 75¢
Close call
Whidbey neighbors help pilot out of crashed plane By JUSTIN BURNETT Staff reporter
A Lynnwood man crash landed his small two-seater airplane in a marshy grassland on South Whidbey Thursday. The aircraft touched down in the fields between the waterfront community on Sunlight Beach Road and the Sun Vista Circle neighborhood off Bayview Road. The crash was reported at 4:17 p.m. Pilot Bernardo Malfitano, 30, suffered some scrapes and bruises but was otherwise unharmed. He says the cause of the accident was fuel related. “I had a bad fuel gauge indication,” he said. “The gauge said I had about a quarter tank. I didn’t.” Malfitano took off earlier that day from Paine Field in his RV-6A, a small kit-built plane produced by Van’s Aircraft. The 185 horsepower single-engine aircraft has a cruising speed of about 185 mph, Malfitano said. He first noticed a problem when the plane began to lose See Crashed, A14
Justin Burnett / The Record
Bernardo Malfitano, 30, poses with the wreckage of his RV-6A plane, which he crash landed in a marshy area on South Whidbey Thursday. Malfitano did not suffer serious injury in the crash.
Langley couple suddenly losing cliffside property to erosion By JUSTIN BURNETT Staff reporter
A Langley husband and wife made national headlines this week when their back yard began to collapse down a 150-foot cliff. Although losing high-bank property to erosion is a common occurrence on Whidbey Island, the circumstances involving Roy and Rosalie Ballinger’s home on Douglas Street is more than unusual. Rather than losing property inch-by-inch over a long period of time, they have lost about 90 feet in about a week, according to some estimates, and several buildings are under threat of being lost. As of Friday morning, South Whidbey Fire/EMS
Assistant Chief Paul Busch said the process has slowed but is still ongoing. “It’s continuing to slough off,” Busch said. “It really is a tragedy for these people.” Attempts to reach the Ballingers Friday for this story were unsuccessful. It’s believed the culprit is an underground spring or geyser that, for some unknown reason, changed direction and is now eating away at the yard’s foundations. Large amounts of rain could also be responsible. So much property has fallen away that Roy’s two-story workshop is now threatened. The massive hole has already claimed an ancient yew tree and the couple’s greenhouse is teetering on the precipice.
A sunken propane tank is also feared to be in danger. The gas was shut off Wednesday but the gas company could not get close enough to safely pump it out, said Mike Cotton, deputy chief for South Whidbey Fire/EMS “It’s in line to go ... but it was not safe to recover it,” Cotton said. “We’re watching that very, very closely.” Although the Ballingers’ home is believed to be safe, family and friends have helped to empty the workshop in case it’s lost. The contents are being housed in a storage container until it’s more certain what will happen. See Erosion, A14
Photo courtesy of Eric Brooks
A massive hole now occupies what used to be Langley residents Roy and Rosalie Ballinger’s back yard. They began losing ground about a week ago and have lost up to 90 feet of property. An underground spring may be responsible.