A barely-conscious helicopter pilot in critical condition was rescued from a crash in the Everglades Saturday thanks to a massive multi-agency search aided by civilian airboat teams.
The rescue effort soon became a lesson in coordination: a A Palm Beach County Sheriff's helicopter located the crash, a Florida Fish & Wildlife airboat was first on the scene, a Broward Fire Rescue chopper lowered a medic, and Miami-Dade Fire Rescue was able to hoise and airlift 51-year-old Mark Palmieri to hospital.
Palmieri, who owns Tamiami-based company Bravo Helicopters, was flying to Tamiami from Orlando when around 7:30 a.m. his Robinson helicopter ended up upside down in the remote river of grass.
Palmieri was able to call a friend from his cell phone, but could not or did not give a location. Without being able to return the call, a massive deployment of rescue crews from Broward, Palm Beach, and Miami-Dade Counties were joined by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission, the Civil Air Patrol, and civilian airboat operators.
"It's like looking for a needle in a haystack," Broward Fire Rescue spokesman Mike Jachles. "He was able to call somebody who called somebody who called somebody. It was literally third-hand information."
The crash site was located by a Palm Beach Sheriff's helicopter about 10:30 a.m., nine miles north of Alligator Alley and four miles west of the 34.5 mile marker on U.S. 27. It is not yet known what caused the helicopter to crash; aviation officials were on-site Saturday afternoon to investigate.
"The pilot was very lucky," Jachles said, "to not only survive the crash but to get help so quickly."
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Palmieri remains in intensive care at Broward General Medical Center.
