“November 329PT, cleared for takeoff, expedite your
departure, traffic is a Citation on a two-mile
final….” If you’re ready to go, taxi onto
the runway, apply power and take off. But what if
you’re not?
"We picked up the signal almost as soon as we took
off... We were in a very strong Northerly and it only took
about 30 minutes to get to the area. We never spotted them in the
big seas but as we went past our radio gear indicated they were
behind us, and as we turned the guys onboard set of a flare. The 30
foot yacht was being buffeted by seas around four metres high, with
the occasional rouge wave coming through as high as six metres.
Winds were between 40 and 50 knots (75 and 90 kph).
Using hand signals we quickly established that there were only two
of them onboard, they were physically OK and they had no radio
communications... We were initially a bit concerned with how
the rescue would go without being able to brief them, but they
quickly showed us they were
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