HH-65 Dolphin (Eurocopter)
Finding a human in the water from 500 feet in the sky...
Something an old boss of mine used to say was, "There ain't nothin' that comes out of the sky but birdshit and fools!"
I completely disagree.
I've seen what these guys can do in the sky and after years of witnessing their handwork, I can honestly say that they're not just fools, they're a special kind of crazy.
Each and every aviator I've ever met has been married to their work - in love with the sky as much as I am with the sea. As humans, we depend on the air we breathe as much as the water in each of us. Consequently, it's no mistake that our bodies contain roughly the same salt content as the oceans of our earth.
Without Coast Guard aviation, the vast expanse of ocean would be largely unexplored. Most people don't realize how incredibly vast it's waters are...
Imagine filling ten conference sized tables with a handful of salt on each. Remove one grain of salt from any of those 10 tables and ask a Coast Guard aviator to find the table from which you removed the salt grain. He or she will find it every time.
What they can do from the sky is amazing, considering our oceans are simply and unapologetically, massive. These brave men and women are sometimes the only link between survival and certain death beneath the waves.
In the photograph attached, you can almost see the whites of their eyes.
Amazing something so small can do so much...
