The plane, a Beechcraft 300 King Air on a flight from Marsh Harbour, Bahamas, to Freeport, Grand Bahama, suffered engine failure on Tuesday afternoon. The pilot ditched the aircraft roughly 50 miles off Vero Beach, Florida, and evacuated his 10 passengers onto a yellow life raft, authorities said. The group then drifted for five hours with no radio and a thunderstorm approaching, huddled under a tarp.
The downed plane’s emergency beacon had already pinged the U.S. Coast Guard. At the same time, an HH-60W Jolly Green II helicopter from the Air Force Reserve’s 920th Rescue Wing was flying a routine training mission nearby. The crew was immediately turned toward the beacon’s coordinates.
Air Force Reserve Maj. Elizabeth Piowaty, who commanded the HC-130J Combat King II that assisted in the search, said the pilot’s ditching was remarkable. “I’ve not known anyone to survive a ditching in the ocean,” she said. “From what I’ve seen, for all those people to survive is pretty miraculous.”
After locating the raft, Piowaty’s aircraft dropped a survival kit with additional rafts, food, and water. The survivors were able to spread out, and the helicopter’s rescue swimmer, Capt. Rory Whipple, jumped into the water to reach them.
“You could tell just by looking at them that they were in distress — physically, mentally and emotionally,” Whipple said during a news conference Wednesday. “You have to imagine the emotional injuries that they sustained out there, not knowing if someone was going to rescue them.”
One by one, the 11 were hoisted aboard the helicopter amid 3- to 5-foot swells. The final survivor was lifted just minutes before the helicopter would have had to break off to refuel, Piowaty said.
All 11 were flown to Melbourne Orlando International Airport, where emergency medical services evaluated them. Authorities said everyone was in stable condition. There was no sign of the downed aircraft, Piowaty noted. The Federal Aviation Administration said it would investigate the crash.