The airline that was transporting Fuddy hadn’t had an accident in 20 years.
I’m pretty sure the pilot put out a mayday call on 121.5 MHz that the FAA or the Coastguard would have picked up on.
Where is the closest Coast Guard station? How long does it take to fly a helicopter from the station to the point where the crash landing occurred?
The guy who was there to protect Fuddy took selfies of himself after the crash.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1qJWqmSNHQ
Indeed.
One can actually SEE Molokai from Maui. It is quite close, so even if the Coast Guard had to send help from Maui, it should not have taken long at all. (Molokai is part of Maui County, in fact.)
First Schuman said the pilot hadn’t put in a Mayday call, then the pilot said he had.
The nearest Coast Guard station is Station Molokai, roughly 30 miles away. But I’m not sure if they have a helicopter. The next-closest is in Honolulu at Diamond Point. With the HC-130 it’s a 10-minute flight; with the helicopters it’s a 15-minute flight, at top cruising speeds.
As far as we know, Puentes (the guy who took the photos) wasn’t there to protect Fuddy, but Fuddy’s deputy health director, Keith Yamamoto, was there.