An Air Canada flight was diverted and thrown into a rescue operation after a man got into trouble in choppy waters while on a solo yacht trip.
CNN reported that the pilot on Flight ACO33, Andrew Robertson got a call from the Australian Maritime Safety Authority Tuesday about. The authority asked that the flight help a man who was sailing a yacht from Sydney two weeks earlier that went missing.
CNN reported that Glenn Ey was stranded in the boat and it had run out of fuel and had a broken mast after a storm.
"I thought I had a very good chance of getting back to Sydney without assistance," he said to CNN. "I couldn't see any evidence of Sydney, and I had no idea of my exact position, and it was at that point I set off the emergency position indicator radio beacon."
"Drifting for 16 hours in the Tasman Sea, Mr Ey was located about 270 nautical miles off the coast of Sydney," The Australian reported.
The plane which was on its way from Vancouver, Canada searched the waters for Ey's boat and CNN reported that Robertson asked crew and passengers to keep an eye on the water blow.
The plane found Ey within 25 minutes, CNN reported. "We're doing this big sweeping right turn and almost immediately they said, 'Oh, we see something. We were totally ecstatic," said Robertson.
"A merchant vessel helped the yacht until the New South Wales water police arrived from Sydney late Wednesday, about 270 nautical miles off the coast," reported CNN.
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