A military rescue crew in Florida has described the survival of all 11 people from a plane crash in the Atlantic Ocean as “pretty miraculous,” while also revealing they themselves had only five minutes of fuel left after the operation. Talk about cutting it close.
The 920th Rescue Wing, based at Patrick Space Force Base near Cape Canaveral, raced on Tuesday to reach passengers and crew who had emerged from a small Beechcraft twin-propeller aircraft that ditched into the ocean about 80 miles east of Melbourne, Florida. The survivors - all Bahamian adults - had been packed into a single tiny life raft for about five hours by the time rescuers arrived in a Combat King II transport plane and an HH-60W Jolly Green II helicopter. There was no sign of the plane or any wreckage, and the survivors had no idea help was on the way.
“I’ve not known anyone to survive ditching in the ocean,” said Maj Elizabeth Piowaty, the transport plane’s pilot. “And from what I’ve seen, for all those people to survive is pretty miraculous, and then get in the raft all together.”
Over nearly an hour and a half, the helicopter crew made nine lifts using a winch and basket in choppy seas to get all survivors onboard, then flew them to waiting ambulances at Melbourne airport. Lt Col Matt Johnson, who piloted the helicopter, revealed that the aircraft had only about five minutes of fuel remaining when the last person was hoisted up. That moment, he said, was “bingo time” - military speak for “we need to leave now because we’re low on gas.”
Johnson noted his helicopter could refuel in flight “if we exceeded our bingo fuel,” but that would have delayed getting survivors, some needing urgent medical attention, to shore. “We did not need to do that yesterday, but we were ready to go,” he said.
Piowaty said an incoming thunderstorm added urgency to the search, which was triggered by an emergency beacon that activated on impact and was picked up by the US Coast Guard. The aircraft was reportedly on an internal flight between Marsh Harbour and Grand Bahama in the Bahamas when it ditched; the cause of the emergency is under investigation.
Air Force Capt Rory Whipple, winched down to the life raft, said the survivors “were in distress, physically, mentally, emotionally” after so long in the ocean, unaware if rescue was possible. “They didn’t even know that we were coming until we were directly overhead,” he said. “So you have to imagine the emotional injuries that were sustained out there and not knowing if someone was going to rescue them. But that’s our job. We have the best job in the world, on someone’s worst day we are at our best to bring everyone home.”