Brevard Airmen save sailors' lives, accomplish long distance ocean rescue mission

German sailors stranded 500 miles off Cape Canaveral

PATRICK AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. – It was a long distance water rescue mission that only the Air Force could accomplish.

When two distressed sailors were clinging to a life raft 500 miles offshore Friday, it took a team of airmen to get results and save their lives.

The Air Force says Friday morning, two German sailors were in distress 500 miles east of Cape Canaveral.
The Air Force says the father and son were sailing from Panama to Germany, when their sailboat had engine trouble and caught fire.


It sank, stranding them in the middle of the ocean, clinging to a tiny life raft for eight or nine hours, injured and dehydrated, with no food or water.

Later that day, help arrived.

Five pararescuemen including Major Cody Atchison jumped from a plane into the ocean.

"We do this on a regular basis, jumping out into the river or offshore, but this is the first time I've ever been able to do it this far offshore and in a real search-and-rescue mission," Atchison told News 6. "It was definitely an exciting moment," he said about jumping out of the plane.

Atchison told News 6 if it weren't for the Air Force, the sailors' chances of survival were slim.

This mission was too far offshore for the Coast Guard to rescue them.

The Air Force and their long-distance aircraft, with the ability to refuel in-flight, were called on for the dangerous mission.

"We can essentially fly indefinitely," said Major Paul Carpenter, one of the pilots in Friday's mission.

The airmen said saving the sailors' lives was a team effort that included flying an interpreter for the 920th Rescue Wing out to sea.

The German men do not speak English.
"The engine overheated, they said. Then, all he said was there was a big 'poof' and very black, thick smoke," interpreter Master Sgt. Isabelle Klier-Grahan told News 6 about her conversation with the sailors later at Orlando Regional Medical Center.
The Air Force said one of the men suffered second-degree burns.
The airmen took the sailors onboard an ocean freighter from Singapore that fortunately was close by before flying to the hospital.
The Air Force said it's arranging a reunion between the rescuing airmen and the sailors later this week at ORMC.
"It's really amazing to me the assets that the United States will (expend) even for folks who are not United States citizens," Carpenter said. "We spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to rescue these two German citizens. That really, quite honestly, makes me proud."


About the Author:

James joined News 6 in March 2016 as the Brevard County Reporter. His arrival was the realization of a three-year effort to return to the state where his career began. James is from Pittsburgh, PA and graduated from Penn State in 2009 with a degree in Broadcast Journalism.

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