Coasties fish downed pilot from the Gulf of Mexico

| September 19, 2019

Coast Guard for the win once again. Mr. Hodges is fortunate, to say the least, that he was rescued in such a short period of time. A large part of that was him having emergency gear to aid his rescuers. From the article:

The Coast Guard rescued a pilot after his small, single-engine plane crashed in the Gulf of Mexico on Sunday.

An MH-65 Dolphin rescue helicopter aircrew from Coast Guard Air Station New Orleans hoisted Robert Hodges, 65, out of the water a little more than an hour after the crash about eight miles off Southwest Pass, Louisiana, and transported him to West Jefferson Medical Center.

“The last word we had was that he was in stable condition,” said Coast Guard spokesman Public Affairs Specialist 3rd Class John Michelli on Monday.

The rescue operation began after watchstanders at the 8th Coast Guard District in New Orleans received a distress alert from an emergency locator transmitter at 11:46 a.m. Sunday.

The warning echoed a notification received from the Houston Air Route Traffic Control that a Southwest Airlines flight had relayed a mayday call from an unknown aircraft, plus three international air distress frequency pings from helicopters near the transmitter’s location, officials told Navy Times.

The ELT is a lifesaver. Without it this story could have had a very different, tragic, outcome. The article in it entirety may be read at Navy Times
Bravo Zulu Coasties, well done.

Y’all know I’m a sucker for a good SAR story.

Category: Coast Guard, Feel Good Stories, Search and Rescue

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Graybeard

For all the grief we give them, Coasties are indispensable in their own right.

Y’done good, boys.

5th/77th FA

“Y’done good, boys.” Y’done good boys AND girls! FIFY. Can’t forget my niece is a former Coastie, and my God Daughter is a currently serving Coastie. BZ SAR Troops.

Saw the episode of JAG the other day where Rabb and LT Miss Thang GIB (girl in back) had to punch out in the storm tossed Atlantic. Found the LT fairly quickly, had to drop the swimmer in for Rabb. Seemed to be a pretty authentic depiction of the mechanics involved. No thank you. This old doggie will dig into the mud.

Jeff LPH 3, 63-66

Nice grab Coasties.

2banana

Hmmmm….

“Federal Aviation Administration records indicate that the plane is registered to the Aircraft Guaranty Corp. in Onalaska, Texas, a trust that allows foreign pilots and some publicly traded companies to operate aircraft in the United States.”

Ex-PH2

Good on the Coasties! They’re needed everywhere.

26Limabeans

“Oh God, thy sea is so great and my boat is so small”