Rescue crews assist search for missing boater, NFL players

  • Published
  • By Capt. Cathleen Snow
  • 920th Rescue Wing
PATRICK AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. (AFNS) --  Air Force Reserve rescue crews from the 920th Rescue Wing here launched two aircraft March 2 as Airmen helped with the continued search for three missing boaters in the Gulf of Mexico, two who are NFL players. 

The 920th RQW maintenance teams prepared an HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopter and an HC-130P/N extended range refueling aircraft while the aircrews gather for a mass briefing on their systematic approach to searching the waters. 

One missing boater, Nick Schuyler, was rescued March 2 after clinging to the capsized boat in the waters off of Florida. 

Watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector St. Petersburg, Fla., received a call at about 1: 30 a.m., March 1, reporting the boaters did not return from their fishing trip as expected. The four boaters left at about 6:30 a.m. Feb. 28 from the Seminole Boat Ramp in Clearwater Pass, in a 21-foot center console boat.

The missing boaters are Detroit Lions defensive end Corey Smith and Oakland Raiders linebacker Victor Cooper. They were said to be 50 miles west of Clearwater Pass, off the coast of Tampa Bay, according to the Coast Guard. The pair had been teammates on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2004.

Coast Guard officials said the other missing boater is Will Bleakley. 

Rescue crews took off March 1 in an HH-60G from here at 5 p.m. to join the Coast Guard in the search. Using night-vision goggles, they scanned the choppy waters throughout the evening without success, returning at approximately 11:30 p.m.

Crews on the search March 1 said it's much more difficult to spot something in the water using night-vision goggles because there was little illumination by moonlight the evening of March 1 and you don't have the sun reflecting off of the boat.

Airmen of the 920th RQW are working closely with Coast Guard officials to cover a 750-square mile stretch of area.

Coast Guard notified officials notified the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center staff at Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla., at approximately 1 p.m. March 1 for help that started a chain reaction of notifying various Air Force units. The 920th RQW is one of several other Air Force units which joined in on the search.

The Coast Guard assets included a 47-foot motor-life boat crew from Station Sand Key, Fla., HH-60 Jayhawk helicopter and C-130 Hercules fixed-wing aircraft from Coast Guard Air Station Clearwater, and the Coast Guard Cutter Crocodile are searching a 750-square mile area west of Clearwater Pass for the missing boaters.

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