Flight AC033 diverted
after pilot Andrew Robertson got a call from the Australian Maritime
Safety Authority on Tuesday to help search for a yachtsman who had
sailed from Sydney two weeks earlier.
"If we have the fuel,
could we investigate an emergency beacon that had just gone off," came
the question from maritime officials, Robertson told CNN Canadian
affiliate CBC News.
Down below, Glenn Ey of
Queensland, Australia, was being tossed about in his crippled 36-foot
yacht -- out of fuel and with a broken mast after a storm.
"I thought I had a very
good chance of getting back to Sydney without assistance," Ey said after
nine days adrift. "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."
The search began as the
Boeing 777, on its way from Vancouver, dropped from 37,000 feet to 4,000
feet. Robertson asked the passengers and crew to train their eyes on
the choppy waters below.
"I think everyone's heart
started beating a little bit faster," said Jill Barber, a Canadian
singer, who was making the trip to Sydney for a concert. "They said ...
we'd really appreciate it if everyone could look out their windows, and
if anyone has any binoculars that could help us identify this yacht,
that would be really helpful."
It didn't take too long to find Ey as passengers and crew scanned the waters below.
"We're doing this big
sweeping right turn and almost immediately they said, 'Oh, we see
something,' " Robertson said. "We were totally ecstatic."
Total from time from activation of the emergency beacon until he was found by the Air Canada flight: about 25 minutes.
"You know, we cheered and we applauded and I think we all kind of felt a sense of pride," Barber said.
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.
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