Passenger Planes Helpful in Locating Missing Yachtsman in Australia - East Idaho News
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Passenger Planes Helpful in Locating Missing Yachtsman in Australia

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GETTY W 052912 AirCanada?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1350530573418Norm Betts/Bloomberg News(SYDNEY) — Passengers on an Air Canada flight to Australia joined in helping an Air New Zealand Airbus in the search for a stranded yachtsman off the Australian coast.  

Both jets flew at a lower altitude as the pilots asked passengers over the PA system to look out their windows when they spotted the solo yachtsman, who was low on fuel and had a broken mast, the Telegraph reports.

Captain Andrew Robertson is Air Canada’s fifth-most senior pilot and has been with the company since 1973. He said the search for the missing yachtsman was the first time he had been involved in this kind of event, The Australian reports. He added the exercise lengthened the flight traveling from Vancouver to Sydney by about 40 minutes.

The yachtsman, a 44-year-old from Queensland, was found alive and without injury, an Australian police official told the Telegraph.  

Australian Police later picked up the yachtsman and transported him to safety.

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio

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