OKEECHOBEE COUNTY, Fla. (WSVN)– Newly released 911 calls and bodycam video capture a pilot’s desperate calls for help after his small plane takes a plunge n Okeechobee County with his daughter on board.
The two were left injured and unable to move with a dying phone battery, so it was a race against time to lead rescue crews in the right direction.
The footage, released this week by the Okeechobee County Sheriff’s Office, captured the moment first responders arrived to the scene of the plane crash, just after 9 p.m. on Jan. 10.
“We’re going to get you out of here,” said a first responder in the bodycam footage.
The father and daughter crashed into a wooded area. The impact left the pilot badly injured, but he still managed to call 911.
“I’ve been in a plane crash,” the pilot told a dispatcher.
The woman who answered the phone immediately passed the call to dispatcher Joanne Porter.
“I’ve never had a plane crash call before, and certainly not from the person that was flying the plane,” said Porter.
The pilot told Porter that he and his 11-year-old daughter were badly hurt. As for location, he knew he was east of the Okeechobee Airport, but wasn’t sure where.
“You can tell he was kind of losing his breath, but all in all, he was pretty calm,” said Porter.
“Can you stay with me? Can I keep you on the phone?” Porter asked the pilot over 911.
“If you could get somebody here as soon as possible, please, because I’m hurting a lot,” responded the pilot.
“He was moaning horribly, so he was definitely in a lot of pain,” said Porter.
Porter worked with the pilot to determine his location, but his phone was moments from dying.
“What is your phone? What percentage are you at right now?” Porter asked the pilot over 911.
“Five,” the pilot told Porter.
“You’re at 5%?” responded Porter.
Porter continued to talk to the pilot, and promised that help was on the way.
“We’re going to get you, sir, we’re going to find you and your daughter. Everything’s going to be OK all right? Just stay with us, OK?” Porter told the pilot.
Meanwhile, sheriff’s deputies and fire rescue personnel were scouring the area but were unable find the plane, so they sounded a siren in hopes that the pilot would hear them.
“I can hear the siren,” the pilot told 911.
The pilot’s daughter screamed for help, hoping rescuers would hear her.
“Keep going, princess, they’re coming for us,” the pilot could be heard telling his daughter.
After 40 minutes of searching, first responders found the plane.
And the pilot’s phone never died as he spoke to 911.
“I know that was the grace of God that left that, you know, because when they found him, I was still talking to him,” said Porter.
“I’m praying for you, OK? I’m praying for you,” Porter told the pilot as he was being rescued.
Authorities have not releaed the names of the pilot and his daughter, but they said the victims are both expected to make a full recovery.
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