Seeing Hovercraft
Training Centers’ graduates in the news for their mud rescue operations is becoming a commonplace occurrence. First, the headlines
abounded with the vital role they played in the Washington mudslide rescue and
recovery efforts – and this week in Texas, Wylie Fire-Rescue hit the news for an
out-of-the-ordinary mud rescue operation.
Wednesday
night, 23-year-old Mario Otteson hitched a ride with a van full of teenage guys
at a rest stop near Dallas. But he got far more than a ride! The teens stopped
the van on the bridge over Lake Ray Hubbard, dragged Mario out, punched him
several times, and then hurled him off the bridge into the lake.
But Mario
didn’t land in water. Because of drought conditions, water levels are low and
he sunk instead into thick mud and couldn’t escape. Luckily he had a cell phone
and called 9-1-1. When the Dallas Police and Dallas Fire-Rescue couldn’t get
him out of the mud, they knew to call someone who could: Wylie Fire-Rescue’s HTC-trained
hovercraft pilots and their Neoteric Rescue HoverTrek™.
Wylie’s
first responders quickly and easily flew their craft through the mire and
extricated Mario, who fortunately suffered only a few scrapes but no serious
injuries.
Here’s
just another example of how important hovercraft and thorough training are to
law enforcement and rescue agencies when they need to access areas that boats
and even helicopters can’t reach. And we bet this is one hitchhiker who is now
giving a real ‘thumbs up’ to HTC and Neoteric Hovercraft!
First
Responders: Learn more about rescue hovercraft flight training …
and
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