"Saint" Lands Near Capsized Boat

Here's a story where general aviation really DID save the day... as two stranded boaters in Canada were rescued by a real-life "saint" Monday evening.

CBC News reports Salt Spring Air owner St. Clair McColl was on his final flight of the day, heading from Vancouver harbor back to his business on Salt Spring Island, when one of his passengers saw a man and his teenage son floating on the hull of their capsized boat in the Strait of Georgia.

Acting quickly, McColl landed his DeHavilland Beaver floatplane (photo of type, right) near the boat -- and pulled both men to safety.

"The boat was completely upside down and only the bow was sticking up," McColl told CBC. "So they were sitting on just the bow, their legs were immersed in water, but they were uninjured."

McColl flew the men back to the Richmond seaplane terminal at Vancouver International Airport. Ambulances carried the men away to local hospitals, where they were treated for hypothermia and shock.

"The gentleman did say, when I was walking him up the ramp, 'So what's your name?' And I said, 'Saint.' And he looked at me and said, 'Oh yeah, right.'"

FMI: www.saltspringair.com