I listened to the 911 audio, just listening to the audio, it was bad advice from the 911 operator to try to keep him on the line once the plane started going under. They should have told him to start swimming. He had no other choice. It sounds like he was strugging to stay afloat while talking to the 911 OP once the plane went under.
Kid thought his plane would stay afloat another 3 minutes, even at that point i was already getting the feeling he had much less than that. Yikes
Realistically, situation is worse than he thought and as much as we hope he would still be alive.... I would say it would have been a miracle for him to survive.
I missed that there was audio... I'll go listen. Honestly, it was a miracle that he didn't flip over when he hit, and die on impact.
OK - I've now listened to the audio. I didn't realize he didn't make the 911 call until ~after~ he hit the water. I wonder if he made any radio calls before he hit or if he was too wrapped up in his situation to do that.
Knowing the outcome now, I was screaming for the 911 operator to get up to speed faster, but really, it's a tough job for an operator to go from "hello" to full comprehension of the situation quickly from the choppy confusing conversations of people in trouble.
The call between the dispacter and the Coast Guard seemed a bit chatty and lacked the urgency I'd have assumed, but then I had to think, from the greeting, that this was clearly a second, follow-up kind of call... the guys who are going out are moving already, they aren't the people on the phone.