Instructor Was Teaching Touch-And-Goes When They Came Across Boaters In Distress

A seaplane student got a bit more than he paid for during a recent lesson on touch-and-go water landings on Peace River in southwestern Florida late last week.

Mark Futch was instructing Rogan White ... coincidentally the son of well-known Florida author Randy Wayne White ... in an area of the river where there is a dogleg. He told The Boca Beacon that he has been teaching dogleg turns and circular takeoffs in that area for about 30 years.

But on Thanksgiving day, Futch said as they were taxiing at idle speed, they saw a man frantically trying to get their attention by waving a white t-shirt. He and a woman had lost control of their boat and wound up in a cypress grove, an area where a rescue helicopter dispatched to the scene could not land.

The man said he thought his arm was broken, and the woman said she thought her neck was broken. The later turned out not to be the case, but Futch did not know that at the time. Still, he said they would have to paddle the boat out of the cypress trees, which somehow they did. They got the woman into the airplane, and flew her to Arcadia Airport, where they were met by an ambulance.

Rogan White, meanwhile, has been trying to break into law enforcement, according to the report. After a meeting with Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officer at the scene ... well who knows, it could be the break he's looking for. He's already completed his police academy training.

FMI: http://myfwc.com/