Widow of pilot of Sergey Brin’s private plane that crashed in the ocean bashes billionaire

The heartbroken widow of a pilot ferrying a plane for Google co-founder Sergey Brin has blasted the tech multi-billionaire over her husband’s body still languishing at the bottom of the Pacific after it crashed a month ago.

It is an ironic twist as the world waits for news of the five people trapped inside the missing Titanic-bound submersible with just 20 hours of oxygen left.

Former Navy flier Lance Maclean, 65, and his unidentified co-pilot ditched roughly 40 miles off northern California as they were flying a twin-engine de Havilland Twin Otter turbo prop to Fiji for the world’s 9th richest man.

A U.S. Coast Guard swimmer was winched down from a helicopter and found both men dead in the upturned plane, but was unable to retrieve them.

The aircraft then sank and is now believed to be in 2,700ft of water. It is owned by Bayshore Global Management, a Palo Alto-based investment company founded by 49-year-old Brin to oversee his $100 billion wealth.

Distraught Maria Maclean, 49, has battled since the crash for urgent action to retrieve her husband – and has just been told an operation is scheduled to start on June 25.

But despite the plan, Maria – herself a pilot – condemned the Google guru, telling DailyMail.com: ‘He could have done much more. I have been in agony for weeks.’

The pair were flying to Fiji for Google Founder Sergey Brin, the world’s 9th richest man, when they crashed and their bodies have not been recovered

Maclean’s distraught widow Maria tells DailyMail.com Brin ‘could have done much more. I have been in agony for weeks’

‘He has no respect for my husband and no respect for me and no respect for our family. With all his power, with all his resources and with all his influence he would have made this happen much faster.

‘My husband has been at the bottom of the ocean for more than a month already.

‘From day one, he let his insurance company deal with this. He could have made sure the plane didn’t sink.’

She added: ‘I have tried to contact him, I have tried through Twitter and through so many people but I haven’t had any response.

‘Mr. Brin, I know you have insurance, but for the sake of humanity… my husband was flying for you.’

Shortly after the crash, Bayshore Global said in a statement: ‘We send our deepest condolences to the families of the crew on board. We are providing the families with assistance and will continue to do so as long as needed.

‘Similarly, we are working ensure all available resources are ready to assist in recovery efforts once weather and seas provide safer conditions.’

Brin stepped down as president of Google’s parent company Alphabet in December 2019, but remains a board member and controlling shareholder.

Maria is also heartbroken that the Coast Guard did not pull the two pilots free when the swimmer reached the plane, which came down in Half Moon Bay, south of San Francisco.

He was able to pull the leg of one of the fliers, but could not free either man from the cockpit without going all the way inside – which the Coast Guard has told DailyMail.com is against protocol. Maclean’s co-pilot has not been officially named.

Maclean’s plane took off from Sonoma County Airport in Santa Rosa, California, at 8.05am on May 20, initially bound for Honolulu, Hawaii, on the first leg of a run to move it to Fiji

‘[Brin]has no respect for my husband and no respect for me and no respect for our family. With all his power, with all his resources and with all his influence he would have made this happen much faster,’ Maria tells DailyMail.com

The plane took off from Sonoma County Airport in Santa Rosa, California, at 8.05am on May 20, initially bound for Honolulu, Hawaii, on the first leg of a run to move it to Fiji.

It was destined to be used in the South Pacific for Brin or his guests to go island hopping, Maria said she was told. The tycoon has vacationed there before.

But flight tracking records reveal the plane headed back to the Santa Rosa area four hours later with a suspected fuel starvation problem.

And for the next hour traffic control tried in vain to contact the crew who were clearly battling to reach the safety of land – even using other aircraft in the area as spotters.

At 1.15pm, the red and white Twin Otter turned east on a direct path for a community airfield at Half Moon Bay. Air traffic control made contact with the crew, telling them to turn on their emergency beacons. One of the pilots answered: ‘OK. We’ll do that.’

It’s reported that at 1.52pm a tower operator radioed the plane to tell the pilots that the U.S. Coast Guard had a fix on them and asked: ‘Do you have flares?’

The reply came: ‘I don’t believe… but there’s something inside the life raft here.’

Next the operator is reported to have told them: ‘Coast Guard has your last known location here and they’re sending out a helicopter soon. So hang in there guys, we’ll come get you.’

The response: ‘Copy that, I very much appreciate your help.’ The plane’s situation at that time has not been reported – and there was no further transmission from it.

Maria, 49, said: ‘My husband has been at the bottom of the ocean for a month now and I do not understand why his body has not been recovered.

‘It’s heartbreaking to think of him down there. If I had the money and resources I would get my husband by myself.

‘I cannot describe my pain. He and the other pilot have just been left in the water.

‘I want to give my husband a funeral, everyone deserves a funeral. I know he is decomposing, but if I can have one bone of my husband I need that bone.’

‘I cannot describe my pain,’ Maria said. ‘I want to give my husband a funeral, everyone deserves a funeral. I know he is decomposing, but if I can have one bone of my husband I need that bone’

Maclean and Maria met in her native Colombia 22 years ago while she was flying VIPs and presidential hopefuls around the South American country and he was a commercial pilot

Maclean and Maria met in her native Colombia 22 years ago while she was flying VIPs and presidential hopefuls around the South American country and he was a commercial pilot.

He handled Phantom fast jets during his five years in the Navy before moving into a variety of aviation roles, including hunting down narco-traffickers in South America and fighting wildfires in Montana. He also spent time in Afghanistan helping to train Air Force pilots.

The couple set up home in Naples, Florida – where Lance grew up and went to high school – after marrying 17 years ago.

Maria described her last conversations with her husband on the fateful day and her battle for his remains.

‘Those flights of around 10 hours over water always make me scared,’ she said. ‘As a pilot myself and a wife, I am always scared when my husband flies. So I track him to see what is happening.

Maria, 49, said: ‘My husband has been at the bottom of the ocean for a month now and I do not understand why his body has not been recovered’

‘At 7.34am Pacific time I called him and he was doing his pre-flight checks. I told him, it looks like I cannot track you because the system seems to be blocked.

‘He said he believed it had been blocked by the owners, but added when he got out into international waters the plane should show up,’

It is not unusual for aircraft carrying VIPs or those owned by major figures not to be revealed on public flight tracking phone apps such as Flightradar24 for their privacy.

‘I didn’t know what happened during the flight because I couldn’t see the tracking, I couldn’t see what was going on,’ said Maria.

‘At around 7pm in Naples a Coast Guard official contacted me. I said, what happened? I thought my husband was maybe in the hospital but was okay.

‘They told me my husband crashed the aircraft, he was under the water and he was found with no life…. and they didn’t recover his body.

‘The woman gave me a phone number for more information. I called and asked, what’s the reason they can’t recover my husband’s body? And they said, because we don’t have the resources.’

The distraught widow ‘began calling people all night’. She continued: ‘Next day I called the Coast Guard again. They just said Lance was dead and there was nothing they could immediately do.

‘I don’t know if the plane sank the day after the crash. But I was screaming with all my heart, with all my ability, calling these people, begging don’t let my husband sink. Don’t let my husband sink. Don’t let my husband sink.’

Maria went to San Francisco to see Coast Guard officials and walked the nearest beach to where the crash happened to allow her to gaze out over the ocean. ‘I could feel Lance there,’ she said. ‘I know he was there. But he doesn’t belong there.’

After weeks of fighting, she has now been told by emergency response specialists Fireside Partners that a tentative date for a retrieval ship to begin heading to the location is June 23. It is due to reach the crash site on June 25 – and is contracted to search for 24 hours a day.

Maria said: ‘I have had so many false hopes, I just want to physically see something happening. I won’t believe they are retrieving my husband’s body until I see it with my own eyes.’

A map shows the area off the coast of Northern California where the plane went down 

After weeks of fighting, Maria has now been told by emergency response specialists Fireside Partners that a tentative date for a retrieval ship to begin heading to the location is June 23

Paul Finizio, an attorney based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, who is working with the widow, confirmed: ‘They are going to be dispatching a recovery ship equipped with underwater drones.

‘At this point, I don’t know if they will attempt to retrieve just the bodies or if they will try to raise the whole plane.

‘I was able to go with Mrs. Maclean to Half Moon Bay. It was emotional.’

U.S Coast Guard told DailyMail.com why it could not retrieve Maclean and the other pilot. ‘Our policy is that a diver cannot enter a flooded compartment,’ a spokesperson said.

‘The policy says the diver can reach into the compartment, which is what he did. Basically the aircraft was upside down, he reached in and the men were unresponsive, but there was nothing else he could really do at that point.

‘At this time we aren’t involved with the salvage process. That would be the company that the next of kin is working with.

‘We are always standing by to assist were to happen. but at this time it is the salvage company.’

DailyMail.com tried to contact Brin for comment and we were directed to Bayshore Global Management, which said in a statement: ‘Since the de Havilland Twin Otter aircraft associated with our office experienced an accident at sea, we have been working every day with response, recovery, insurance, and aerial and maritime resource agencies regarding the search, and if possible, recovery.

‘We are providing direct support for the families of the crew and ensuring all available specialized private resources are assisting with search and recovery efforts.

‘We continue to coordinate closely with the National Transportation Safety Board, which is in charge of investigating this accident and is the only official agency authorized to publicly provide information. Our focus remains on providing support to the families.’