It took 18 minutes for a team from Wrightsville Beach Ocean Rescue to reach a downed U.S. Marine Corps jet pilot on Friday, arriving on jet ski before the helicopters, aircraft and Coast Guard boats dispatched to the wreckage-strewn scene.
Ocean Rescue Capt. Jeremy Owens and lifeguard and firefighter Kyle Miess rode the tandem Jet Ski about two miles to reach the site, where they had to circle the wreckage before making visual contact with the pilot.
Owens, the driver, spotted the pilot about 250 yards deep into the messy debris field, and sent in rescue swimmer Miess, who made first contact with the pilot, who was unharmed and completely responsive.
“The only thing he wanted was to get out of the water and get warm,” Miess said.
Owens described a scene unlike any he has ever seen as an experienced lifeguard.
“There was fuel everywhere. Debris everywhere. He was floating in the middle of it,” Owens said.
The pilot, who ejected from the AV-8B Harrier military jet before it crashed into the ocean with a tremendous splash seen by beachgoers, was in good condition and recovering at home.
WBOR received the first call from 911 at 4:50 p.m. WBOR was part of a response crew from the town’s fire station that went to Masons Inlet at the town’s north end. From the shore, Miess surveyed the debris field with binoculars and spotted the pilot. He was aided by the military aircraft in the area searching for the pilot.
“It was good that they were circling, it helped let us know where he was,” Miess said.
Fortunately for the rescue, the conditions were calm.
“We were able to get out there pretty quickly,” Owens said, reporting that contact was made with the pilot at 5:08 p.m., but noting that the debris field slowed the search. “The length of time reflected our time trying to figure out where he was. We circled the debris field looking for him until we spotted him.”
Wrightsville Beach Fire Chief Glen Rogers said that the team’s rescue was especially impressive given the uncertain circumstances they were riding into. Rogers said the pilot was OK, but it could have been different if not for the quick reaction of the firefighters.
“This Ocean Rescue team had no idea exactly what they were responding to or what the injuries would be,” Rogers said.
There were initial reports that the crash might have been a paraglider, but Owens believes that witnesses may have been describing the parachute of the pilot who ejected.
Miess, a two-time WBOR lifeguard of the year, is part of the Wrightsville Beach Fire Department intern program and lives in a dorm at the fire department. He studies at Cape Fear Community College’s EMS Program, getting real-world experience as a first responder for WBFD, including a full day of firefighting at the April 29 King’s Beachwear fire.
Both Miess and Owens praised the quick response of all of the first responders, including WBFD and the New Hanover County Sheriff’s Office, which deployed a boat to the area. But the highest praise has come from Rogers, who described the efforts of Owens and Miess as a “purely heroic rescue!”
Read more about the rescue here.
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