The US Coast Guard performed a relatively routine medevac from Carnival Sensation on Saturday as it was sailing about 22 miles off the coast of Palm Beach. The video, however, is remarkable.
The Coast Guard received a call from the ship about 7pm that a 71-year-old man was experiencing stroke symptoms, and an MH-65 Dolphin helicopter was launched from the Coast Guard air station at Miami. Shortly, it was hovering over the cruise ship’s aft deck.
We have some outstanding video thanks to advances in video technology that shows the rescue swimmer being lowered to the deck, and this camera angle gives us some good perspective on the height from which these medevacs are performed.
As usual at first look, they make it look so simple, but as you watch the coordination between the helicopter and ship as it continues to move through the water, you realize the expertise necessary between the pilots of the aircraft and the ship. Still, the Coast Guard considers it all in a day’s work.
