Jet-skier clipped by float plane

BIG LAKE -- Jane Cain was standing on her jet ski Monday afternoon, heading from Hulen's Point toward the center of Big Lake when she noticed something looming to her left.

In the split second before impact, she knew it meant trouble.

"I had just enough time to think 'That plane's going to hit you,'" Cain said.

The plane, piloted by Gordon Thompson of Anchorage, sliced the front of her jet ski with a float and clipped the woman's head. Cain was wearing a helmet, which now has a chunk of its front gouged out.

Others at the lake came to her rescue and Cain was rushed to Valley Hospital in an ambulance. Her left arm was broken in two places, and a plate and two screws were surgically inserted.

She counts herself lucky to be alive.

"My helmet saved my life," Cain said Wednesday, just hours after being released from the hospital. "I'm lucky I had all the safety gear on or I wouldn't be here."

An experienced jet skier, Cain also wore a kidney belt that she credits with saving considerable internal injury.

She said the plane was coming at a downward angle as though Thompson, 59, was landing. An Alaska State Trooper report supports that scenario, saying Thompson " … was preparing to land … "

She plans to take photos of her damaged craft to show to National Transportation Safety Board officials.

"There he was right in front of me," Cain said. "It was a bottleneck part of the lake where he shouldn't have been. I was getting ready to go out into the main part of the lake. I was going straight, not cutting corners or doing anything crazy."

The 44-year-old Wasilla resident said she's always been careful when operating a jet ski. She's a member of the International Jet Sports Boating Association and the Personal Water Craft Association, both of which promote safety on the water, Cain said.

In addition to physical injury, the incident will cause her to miss a term of classes at the University of Alaska Anchorage, where Cain was close to a degree.

Troopers said alcohol was not a factor. No charges had been filed as of Friday, but a trooper investigation is continuing.

Thompson, an architect, was unavailable for comment.

Cain didn't hesitate when asked two days after the incident if she planned to go jet skiing again. She figures the odds of something similar happening again are remote.

"I'm invincible now," she said, flashing a big grin.