{"id":271994,"date":"2026-05-15T08:52:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-15T08:52:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/271994\/"},"modified":"2026-05-15T08:52:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-15T08:52:12","slug":"920th-rescue-wing-assists-in-rescue-of-11-survivors-off-florida-coast-air-force-article-display","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/271994\/","title":{"rendered":"920th Rescue Wing assists in rescue of 11 survivors off Florida coast > Air Force > Article Display"},"content":{"rendered":"


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\n PATRICK SPACE FORCE BASE, Fla. (AFNS) — \u00a0<\/p>\n

Reserve Airmen assigned to the 920th Rescue Wing\u00a0assisted\u00a0in the rescue of 11 survivors from a downed civilian\u00a0aircraft\u00a0approximately 80 miles east of Melbourne, May 12. An emergency locator transmitter signal from a twin-engine turboprop\u00a0aircraft\u00a0alerted Coast Guard Southeast District\u00a0watchstanders\u00a0to a potential distress situation at approximately 11 a.m. Tuesday.\u00a0

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\nAt the time of the alert, a 920th Rescue Wing HH-60W Jolly Green II<\/a> helicopter crew was already airborne conducting a routine training mission. The crew was redirected to\u00a0assist\u00a0in the search and rescue effort after receiving a request to investigate the emergency locator transmitter signal.\u00a0
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Working alongside interagency partners, including the U.S. Coast Guard<\/a> and\u00a0additional\u00a0Air Force rescue assets, the 920th Rescue Wing aircrew helped\u00a0locate\u00a0and recover 11 Bahamian adults from a life raft near the downed\u00a0aircraft. The HH-60W crew hoisted all 11 survivors and transported them to awaiting emergency medical services at Melbourne Orlando International Airport. All survivors were reported in stable condition.\u00a0<\/p>\n


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\u201cThis rescue highlights the readiness, professionalism and interoperability our\u00a0Airmen\u00a0train for every day,\u201d said Col. Chadd\u00a0Bloomstine, 920th Operations Group\u00a0commander. \u201cOur crews were already airborne conducting training when the call came in, and they\u00a0immediately\u00a0transitioned from training to real-world rescue operations alongside our Coast Guard and interagency partners. We are proud to have played a role in bringing 11 people home safely.\u201d\u00a0 \n<\/p>\n


\nA Coast Guard Air Station Clearwater C-27 Spartan aircrew and an HC-130J Combat King II aircrew from Patrick Space Force Base also\u00a0assisted\u00a0in\u00a0locating\u00a0the downed\u00a0aircraft\u00a0and nearby life raft.\u00a0
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The civilian\u00a0aircraft\u00a0reportedly\u00a0departed\u00a0Marsh Harbour, Bahamas, and was\u00a0en\u00a0route to Freeport when it experienced engine failure. Bahamian authorities will investigate the cause of the incident.\u00a0<\/p>\n


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The 920th Rescue Wing<\/a>, the Air Force Reserve\u2019s only combat search and rescue wing, routinely conducts rescue operations and training missions in support of civil authorities, national defense\u00a0objectives\u00a0and humanitarian response efforts. The unit is an example of the Reserve Advantage of being more than a backup but an operational force ready to Fly, Fix and Fight.<\/p>\n


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\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" PATRICK SPACE FORCE BASE, Fla. (AFNS) — \u00a0 Reserve Airmen assigned to the 920th Rescue Wing\u00a0assisted\u00a0in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":271995,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[116433,21835,116435,116434,24913,28,30,29,74684],"class_list":["post-271994","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-af","tag-air-force","tag-air-power","tag-airforce","tag-aviation","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-u-s-air-force"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271994","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=271994"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271994\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/271995"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=271994"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=271994"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=271994"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}