A small plane crashed deep in the Everglades Tuesday afternoon, leaving two people stranded on the aircraft’s wing before a Miami-Dade Fire Rescue helicopter airlifted them to safety.
Rescue conducted in remote area, no injuries reported
Tucked about 20 miles west of Miami Executive Airport, the small plane came down in thick brush and swampy terrain, according to emergency radio traffic.
“A flight instructor advising that a plane went down and they are stranded in the Everglades—no injuries at this time,” one dispatcher was heard saying.
“The aircraft is still overturned in the Everglades,” another voice confirmed.
Standing on the wing of the overturned plane, the two people on board—a flight instructor and a student—waited to be rescued from the marshy wilderness.
Fire rescue gets call, takes flight
Lt. Enrique Gonzalez, a flight medic with Miami-Dade Fire Rescue, received the emergency call and immediately began preparing his team for the mission.
“We prepare the helicopter for search and rescue operations and a potential hoist if necessary,” Gonzalez said. “We have a general idea of what kind of environment we’re responding to.”
As they neared the site, Gonzalez said they spotted help already circling above.
“We could see the Coast Guard airplane circling over the scene, and I believe there was a police helicopter there as well,” he said. “We were able to locate them relatively quickly.”
A precision hoist from the sky
With the plane resting in unstable mud, Gonzalez decided the safest option was to lift the victims out.
“Being that it’s mud and the depth of the mud is unknown to us, and the aircraft won’t sit well on that, the best way for us to extract those people is just to hoist them out,” he said.
Lowered on a cable from the helicopter, Gonzalez attached harnesses to the stranded instructor and student, hoisting each to safety. One of the victims was seen extending his arms in relief as he was lifted into the air.
“In this case, it was me—I got lowered down on a cable, on a hoist cable, and we have lifting harnesses,” Gonzalez explained. “We’re able to attach the victims to the lifting harnesses and extract them from the crash site.”
Team’s extensive training pays off
The pair was flown to the Miami-Dade Fire Rescue station at Miami Executive Airport, where they walked away unharmed. Gonzalez credited the team’s extensive training for the smooth operation.
“Several times a year, we go out and do mock scenarios where we train on these specific types of situations,” he said. “It prepares us to equip the aircraft with the tools necessary.”
For Gonzalez, rescues like this are the most rewarding part of the job.
“For me, those are my favorite calls, to be honest with you,” he said. “It has a happy ending—no one’s injured. They just need to be saved from a stranded position. We get to pull them out of there and bring them to a safe place, and everybody walks away with a smile.”
Crash remains under investigation
It is not clear what may have led to the crash. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) will be investigating the cause.
