Air Canada flight helps locate sailor off Australian coast

In Australia flight crews of commercial flights are hailed as heroes for assisting in finding stranded vessels..Here at home that flight crew would have been featured on "The Nightly News" for potentially operating the aircraft in a manor that may have put passengers lifes in jeopardy by flying at un-safe altitudes, flying a low rates of speed and not adhering to victor airways....I am also pretty sure they would have found all the passengers that they could have found to tell their stories of how they didn't know what was going on and how they thought that they were going to crash into the drink.....Great job pilots.

Same scenario in the US: Half the passengers raise hell because the flight is late 45 minutes and get free vouchers, crew gets fired for not obeying the flight management system and "assuming" there is enough fuel for the descent and climb back to assigned flight level and putting passengers at risk, the other half of the passangers sue the airline for being put at risk after the last statement about the fuel becomes public. Boy we got a lot to learn. This is a perfect example that great things happen when common sense is used and people are willing to be "inconvenienced" for the good of others.

G-d bless the crew who pushed aside regulations and saved the people in the ship. There are still people who have the brains to take action when it is called for and perhaps a set of good binoculars should be standard cockpit equipment.

big 777 comes to the rescue, I bet the sailor was surprised to see AIR CANADA :)

6000 ft above the water in 777 sounds like fun!

Great story! Must have been quite satisfying to help out.

Great job by the crew in helping getting those on board the yacht rescued. I am sure the crew of the aircraft informed the passengers of their intent . Everyone was a winner- the yacht crew for being rescued- the aircraft crew knowiing they helped their fellow man(woman) - the passengers having a great story to share with family and friends.

That must have been a long flight! Over 16 hours. If there was enough fuel, I'm sure others would be willing to do the same.

Does anyone think that United would have done the same?

This event reminds me of the Air NZ flight that found the lost ag-wagon pilot whose ADF malfunctioned in 1979.

Dumb comments! If the jet had sufficient fuel, what they did was perfectly safe. It's just that at that low altitude much more fuel is used. That's a lot of ocean and even near sea level it is very difficult to spot even a large sailboat. I know. I filmed a rescue at sea from a cruise ship. We had to reverse course and track down an emergency flare. Put yourself in the situation of the stranded mariner. In our case many ships had passed unawares. After five days adrift the three people were very glad for our assistance.

I wonder if and what Transport Canada will say about it.

Who really gives a toss about G-d or even spent God or GOD it doesnt matter

By golly if Sully was flying he would have landed on the ocean, let the sailor climb aboard, taken off and continued on to the destination............JUST KIDDING........GREAT story and hats off to all involved. I can just imagine that guy looking up and seeing that huge plane dipping it's wings ............what a feeling that must have been.

Way to go air canada

Pleased to see an Air New Zealand A320, en route from Sydney to Auckland, was also able to offer assistance in the search!

Top Pilots and all aboard!

3500 ft.? it was 6,000.

This story makes me happy!

wonderful of the Air Canada 777 to be able to help. I can only imagine what it would be like, to be stranded in the ocean and see a International carrier's 777 coming down to 3,500 feet to look for me. Wow! way cool!

Kudos to the USCG and SPAWAR guys who came and stayed on the project for the digital distress system knowing it was already going to be treaty violation late when the money for the project showed up. Read Hillenbrand's Unbroken for one of the more compelling stories of what it is like to be adrift in the pacific

FOAD

Check the log on flightaware, it records a higher than normal flight time and the descend and climb!

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/ACA33/history/20121015/0645Z/CYVR/YSSY

Once again, given the opportunity, far too many people eagerly jump on the America bashing bandwagon given the negative content of many posts presented herein. It seems to be the thing to do these days especially from senior officials in our government and the media. While it may be symptomatic of frustration for a variety of reasons, it's always easiest to seek the path of least resistance when you think you're part of the crowd. I prefer to think that an American flight crew if given the same set of circumstances would have done the same thing. I know I would have.

I saw a passenger and the Captain on that flight talking about the FACT that they dropped from 37,500 ft to 5000ft to assist in finding the yacht...where did the author of this article get their WRONG info?

year what was air canada doin over there??

there's always pro's and con's help locate sailor ftom a AC flight and different airlines have certain procedures and some one always will complain. What if that sailor was your brother or relative? then we would be happy no complaint.

I'm assuming they AC clearence to follow this procedure. Thank You AC. They were almost on top of Sydney, i've been on this flight and a great way to say Hello Sydney.

Would love to hear those transmisions

Beau geste de la part du commandant de bord et de ces passgers, d'avoir collaborer au sauvetage d'un naufragé. BRAVO

If I had a manor, I wouldn't want Air Canada flying large jets in it.

Great assistance !! .. Nothing like .. the right place at the right time ..

trust me after 13 hours in the air im sure it was nice to break the boredome

Great job!

Hat's off to the crew for helping with the search!

REPOST

Here's the flight & you can see the deviation:

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/ACA33/history/20121015/0645Z/CYVR/YSSY

Not being Orthodox you wouldn't know that you spell it G-d out of reverence and only use the full letters if you are writing something religious and then you would mostly use Hashem (Hebrew for The Name) instead. If you were a conservative or reform or other Jew you probably would spell it as you do.

And, there would be some Orthodox Jews somewhere who don't care about that but its what we do here.

Hopefully I have cleared up your misconception and I did graduate from the University of Maine Magna Cum Laude if that makes it more clear.

Almost time to light candles for the weekend, so I will turn off my computer and not worry about any replies until later Saturday night, Good Shabbos, Shabbat Shalom

Just what good did the 777 do by putting itself that close to the ocean? He certainly didn't stop, didn't drop anything. A wing wiggle? The sailors transponders already gave his location. There wasn't a rescue based on anything the 777 did. duh.

(Duplicate Squawk Submitted)

Air Canada B777 finds Stranded Australian Yacht

Being identified as the closest to the beacon, an Air Canada B77 flight inbound to SYD was asked to try and locate a missing yacht off the Australian coast.

http://avherald.com/h?article=45785315

(Duplicate Squawk Submitted)

Air Canada 777 Diverts to Help Locate Stranded Aussie Yacht

The passengers and crew of an Air Canada flight to Sydney are being hailed for helping to find a stricken yacht off the coast of Australia.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/todayinthesky/2012/10/16/air-canada-new-zealand-yacht-rescue/1636511/

Congrats to Air Canada. At least that sailor's life was saved. Which is more that can be said for the two Panamanian fisherman who, after being ignored by a Carnival Cruise Lines captain, died of exposure off the coast of Ecuador earlier this year. This, AFTER, several of the cruise ship's passengers saw, filmed, and reported the small fishing vessel in distress to the ship's officers. A third fisherman, who lived to tell the tale, was rescued by the Ecuadorian Coast Guard.