Alone in the water for 20 hours: Dramatic rescue of seven people - including three children - after boat sinks 25 miles off U.S. coast

By Mail Foreign Service
Last updated at 11:22 AM on 6th September 2010
Comments (9) Add to My Stories Seven people, including three children, have escaped with their lives after they spent a terrifying night alone in the ocean after their boat sank 25 miles from shore.
The seven - who have been pictured but who have not been named - were miraculously spotted by a helicopter just as it was about to abandon its search off the coast of South Carolina today.

Their 38-foot powerboat began taking on water at around 10am yesterday morning after the engine compartment flooded.
Enlarge Back on dry land: Three of the seven people on board - including a child - are taken to hospital in Charleston after their dramatic rescue on Sunday

Narrow escape: Safe in the ambulance, the three smile for a Coast Guard lieutenant as he takes their picture
As it began to slip beneath the waves, they donned life jackets and abandoned ship.
Clinging to a cooler, and without any way to call for help, they could to nothing but watch as the boat slowly sank.
When the sun set, they faced a long night alone, floating in the dark ocean without any idea if they would survive until morning.
It was not until 10pm that the wife of one of those on board alerted the Coast Guard, worried when they did not return.
Another of the boat's passengers, wrapped in a towel, is taken to the hospital
Two rescue helicopters searched through the night. They were approaching their final flight pattern before having to return to base at 6.02am when a flight mechanic spotted what looked like debris floating in the water.
When they flew over, they could see the bow of the boat jutting just four feet out of the water - and, nearby, the missing seven.

A rescue diver leapt into the water to help all seven, including the children, be hoisted on board the helicopters.
They were rushed to hospital in Charleston. Their condition was not clear last night.



Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1309348/Dramatic-rescue-7-people-boat-sinks-25-miles-South-Carolina-shore.html?ito=feeds-newsxml#ixzz0ylbefcGW

Laser based missile defence for helicopters on the anvil

A new laser technology being developed at the University of Michigan and Omni Sciences, Inc. will protect helicopters in combat from enemy missiles.

“Our lasers give off a signal that’s like throwing sand in the eyes of the missile,” said Mohammed Islam.

These sturdy and portable “mid-infrared supercontinuum lasers” are being made using economical and off-the-shelf telecommunications fibre optics and could blind heat-seeking weapons from a distance of 1.8 miles away.

The robust, simple design can withstand shaky helicopter flight and their mid-infrared supercontinuum mode can effectively jam missile sensors.

They also give off a focused beam packed with light from a much broader range of wavelengths. And they are the first to operate in longer infrared wavelengths that humans can’t see, but can feel as heat. Heat-seeking missiles are designed to home in on the infrared radiation that the helicopter engine emits.

Because this new laser emits such a broad spectrum of infrared light, it can effectively mimic the engine’s electromagnetic signature and confuse any incoming weapons, Mr. Islam said.

“We’ve used good, old-fashioned stuff from your telephone network to build a laser that has no moving parts,” therefore being especially well suited for helicopters, Mr. Islam said.

Keywords: supercontinuum laser, missile defence

Pilot walks away from helicopter crash on Hwy. 101

By Mark Gomez


mgomez@mercurynews.com

Posted: 09/03/2010 07:01:35 AM PDT
Updated: 09/03/2010 07:08:37 AM PDT


A helicopter that crashed onto Highway 101 in Salinas has tied up traffic this morning on the Central Coast, according to the California Highway Patrol.

The pilot walked away from the crash with only minor injuries, according to KGO-TV.

At 6:10 a.m., the CHP received reports that a small plane was upside down in the southbound lanes of 101 just before Airport Boulevard. The CHP also received reports that fuel has spilled onto the roadway.

Contact Mark Gomez at 408-920-5869.

Candlelight vigil held for helicopter crew

Hundreds come out tonight to honor the lives of three Air Evac team members killed Tuesday in a helicopter crash.


They were responding to a medical call when the chopper crashed in Van Buren County near Scotland. The crew was based in Vilonia.

It was an outpouring of support tonight for the three members of that Air Evac lifeteam crew.

Friends, colleagues and loved ones gathered here at the Vilonia Fire Department, lighting candles to keep their memories alive.
The pain and loss still sinks in, one day after pilot Ken Robertson, flight paramedic Gayla Gregory, and flight nurse Kenneth meter, Jr. died in this helicopter crash near Scotland.

"The grieving process of course starts as soon as it happens but it's letting the family's and coworkers know how special they really are too us," says Connie Gains, clinical trauma coordinator at UAMS.
Gaines joined a packed candlelight vigil Wednesday night to remember the three lives lost.

Gaines works for the UAMS trauma center and often partners with medical crews like these. "They bring many patients to us they are a part of our trauma team," she says.

She shared a special bond with Kenneth Meyer, Jr., the flight nurse. "He and I used to tease each other about flying I always told him if I was meant to fly I'd have wings and I don't but he does and I guess he really does now."

Good memories to clutch onto and ones needed in this community right now.

"I talked to a few people today they were glad and real supportive of us doing this," Keith Hillman, Vilonia fire chief.

Hillman organized the vigil with his team; their department is right next to the Air Evac crew. "The guys would eat lunch with us the guys would hang out with us.

A company spokesman for Air Evac said they're planning a memorial service in the coming days, still waiting on the details.
One speaker said tonight while the air in Vilonia may be silent tonight, this community will recover.

WELCOME

Although fixed-wing aircraft receive all the attention by most historians, helicopter flight was the first flight envisioned by man. In fact, the ancient Chinese were playing with a hand-spun toy that rose upward when revolved rapidly and as early as the mid 1500's, the great Italian Leonardo Da Vinci had used his fertile mind to make drawings of a machine that we now know as the helicopter.

His design, like many others to follow, would work theoretically but would have been impractical in full-sized form.

Many extraordinary models were developed by an ever increasing number of great thinkers, but all the pioneers were missing two essentials: a true understanding of the nature of lift and an adequate engine.

The great breakthrough came at the end of the nineteenth century. The internal combustion engine made it possible for the pioneers to develop full-sized models with an adequate power source. It was then they found the first of many great problems: torque, the effect produced by the rotor to force the fuselage to rotate in the opposite direction as the engine.

The beginning of the 20th century saw the pioneers experimenting and resolving many of the problems that appeared with each advancement. The old saying,"One step forward and two steps back," was the order of the day for the early pioneers. Dissymmetry of lift, the action that tended to cause the early helicopters to flip over, confounded the early pioneers until the invention of the swashplate. The swashplate, with cyclic pitch control allowed the rotor blade angles to be altered so that lift would be equal on each side of the central shaft.

However, there were many problems that had not been worked out on any one individual helicopter. Then on November 13, 1907, the French pioneer Paul Cornu lifted a twin- rotored helicopter into the air entirely without assistance from the ground for a few seconds.

After that, several models were produced by many designs but there were no more great advances until another French pioneer, Etienne Oehmichen, became the first to fly a helicopter a kilometer in a closed circuit in 1924. It was a historic flight taking 7 minutes and 40 seconds.
Advances began to come fast and furious. One of the more important advances in the development of vertical flight was made by the Spaniard Juan de la Cierva. His design, called the autogyro, was not a true helicopter but his contribution was very important.
By 1936, many of the problems had solutions and with the introduction of the German Focke-Wulf Fw 61, the first practical helicopter was a reality. Vertical flight was not a dream anymore.


This historical evolution of rotary wing aircraft is dedicated to all those that were involved in the development of the most versatile vehicle known by man and exists due the enormous help of so many people from all around the world. Thanks to all !