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The U.S. Coast Guard made a dramatic rescue Sunday off the coast of California, pulling a 77-year-old man and his adult son from a stalled, single-engine Cessna plane that had been forced to crash-land on water.
U.S. Coast Guard Pilot Chris Courtney, who was dispatched to the scene with his crew of three, told NBC Bay Area that the difference between life and death for the two men was a matter of minutes.
On arrival, Courtney's crew hoisted up the father and then went for his son.
"Just as we pulled him off the aircraft, it rolled over to left and sank,” Courtney said. “If we’d been there any later, it’s very possible that those two would have died last night,” Courtney said.
Read the original report at NBCBayArea.com
Courtney said he has been sent to one other down-aircraft situation in his 14 years of piloting – and that incident did not end well.
Sunday’s dramatic rescue was Courtney’s third mission that day, leaving little time for his crew to draft a rescue plan and fly 45 minutes south to the plane’s location, about 30 miles from Big Sur.
“We had literally less than three minutes to get this done," he said, "and we were able to save those guys and get them back to airport -- so your adrenaline’s definitely kicking in.”
Courtney said the father and son were also to credit as they had equipped the aircraft with a GPS tool called a 406 Electronic Position Indicating Radio Beacon. That allowed them to send a help signal to a rescue coordination center via satellite, immediately transferring information about the beacon's owner, the aircraft and a phone number to call.
“It saves so much time,” Courtney said. “It’s your best chance to surviving if you are on a vessel in distress.”
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Leave a Comment:
They must thank their lucky stars to have had the sense to put the Beacon in place. Never would have thought they would have to use it!. All praise for the heroes who rescued them. God bless them.
I did not know that you could crash land on water. Glad all is well
Must not watch much TV, huh? Remember a little incident in NYC a couple years ago where a jet liner crashed landed on the Hudson River? You might not have heard of it. It didn't get much air time.
elrenno, the plane in this case was a seaplane. Did you see the video? Those long things on either side of the fuselage are pontoon floats. An Airbus is not designed to land on water.
Aircraft are ditched in water, not crash-landed on water. Pilots who screw up and have to "crash-land" on land aren't even said to have crash-landed. It's called a CFIT: a controlled flight into terrain. How's that for adding insult to injury?!
It's a pleasure to read about a ditching that ended well. Bravo to the Coast Guard!
I absolutely love those men in the Coast Guard. They are people with a desire to spend their career rescuing others in trouble. My opinion - it takes a special type of person to rescue people for a living, one with a big heart. Thank you U.S. Coast Guard for all that you do!
Way to go Coast Guard! Thank goodness both men were saved!
There's a lot of credit deserved here for everyone involved.
First to the owner of the plane and his awesome job of landing the plane under the worst conditions possible, second for having the best equipment available on his aircraft that in the end was credited with saving valuable time in locating them and then the Coast guard for saving them both with very little fuel remaining.
I love a happy ending in all of the news that we are given and this one made my day.
Big pat on that back to the Coast guard crew and all of there support crew as well.
Great crash landing as well, it could have turned out way different had it not been for the pilots experience.
"First to the owner of the plane and his awesome job of landing the plane under the worst conditions possible,"
Huh? Did you bother to watch the video? Conditions were looking pretty good to me.
"Great crash landing as well, it could have turned out way different had it not been for the pilots experience."
Y`know I hate to pee in everyone`s punchbowl but the fact that it was a floatplane doing a water landing with what appears to be maybe 3 foot seas running and it wound up on it`s back is making a case for gross pilot error to me...
he landed with out power you try it see if you can do better.
You were there?
The newsperson in the video indicated that the engine "stalled" - I took that to mean that he lost power. I've never landed a plane on water, but I can imagine that attempting a dead stick landing on water, even with small swells can be a tricky proposition. There was no mention at all of the pilot's experience with water landings.
Don't chince for the cheaper EPIRP's. I've spent countless hours back in the day trying to track down cheaper EPIRPs with RDF equipment, sometimes never pinpointing the source. 406 gives a gps location.
Just my 2 cents.
I don't understand...What does Courtney mean when he says, "We had literally less than three minutes to get this done." Is he saying the plane sank three minutes after he got there?
Lalo Cafe ...
"The aircraft rolled over and sank right after the men were rescued."
Looks like that's what he was refering to.
The helicopter was running out of gas. They had 3 minutes before they would have had to abandon them on the ocean.
Bravo Zulu Coast Guard we're lucky to have these men and women in the service of our country.
wow--impressive job, Coast Guard!!
Just remember: this is a Federal Agency whose budget that Romney, Ryan and the Republicans have sworn to cut...
Where`d `ya hear that?
@ Smlfry2, I too LOVE the men (and women) in the CG! One in particular more than the others as he is my husband. I am very proud of him and all his shipmates!
After enlisting some 23 years ago he has worked his way up and is now a budget officer...which brings me to my next point.
@ manus, Historically it seems that budgets for the Military are cut more when Dems are in office. While they are a part of DHS they are funded nearly identically to DOD (in process not in amount of $$)! The Coast Guard is out there saving lives, not taking them, at a fraction of what the other services are allotted!
it's all Obama's fault.
Off we Go, into the Wild Blue Yonder!