MCSO Deputy Trevor Pike and pilot Adam Joseph Barney.Photo:Monroe County Sheriff’s Office - Florida Keys/Facebook
Monroe County Sheriff’s Office - Florida Keys/Facebook
A Florida pilot is thankful to be alive after his plane crashed into the Gulf of Mexico following a mid-flight malfunction.
Adam Joseph Barney, 40, was rescued from the water about three miles off Sawyer Key on Sunday, according to astatementfrom the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office.
The Orlando man was piloting an Aero Commander 500 when it crashed into the water in the Lower Keys and sank, the sheriff’s office said.
Footage fromPike’s body camerashowed the moment he spotted the pilot in the water and helped him into his boat. “Thanks man, I appreciate it,” Barney said in the clip after he was hoisted onto the vessel.
In the clip, Barney explained he was on his way to pick up a friend when he went down around 10:20 a.m. local time.
Barney toldABC affiliate WPLGthat his engines went out while flying to Key West, leaving him with just 60 seconds to decide if he should make an emergency landing in the water.
“I was not scared up until the point I was floating in the water and the plane had disappeared below me,” Barney explained. “That’s when I started to freak out a little.”
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A little while later, Pike showed up and helped Barney out of the water. In the body cam footage, the deputy suggested the pilot was in the water for “over an hour” before he arrived.
“I just started swimming,” Barney said in the clip. “I saw the balloon and I knew shore was that way, so I was like, ‘I’ll eventually make it or drown.’ One or the other.”
Barney is now crediting Pike with saving his life. “Deputy Pike was amazing,” he told WPLG.
There were no life-threatening injuries, according to the MCSO.
An investigation into the crash is ongoing.
source: people.com
