Greg Orman
NFC South Reporter
Hunter Hap was floating in the open waters after a helicopter on a tour with his parents made an emergency landing off the coast of the Davis Islands on Thursday night when three men rushed toward him on two jet skis. I didn’t know who it was. water.
Hap, 28, had spent the previous hour flying to the beach and back as a Christmas present, when he and other passengers on the helicopter heard a loud bang from the rotors above, breaking the water. had to land about 200 yards from the coast.
“Let me tell you, helicopters sink very quickly,” Hap said Friday morning, thankful that he was able to wake up with his parents. I was scared.”
Hap’s parents Wes and Lisa, as well as the pilot, escaped from the helicopter when it was submerged in water, but Hap was the last to escape and managed to free herself for about a minute before surfacing. The four of them floated together, only inches above the water in the helicopter, wondering whether to wait for help or try to swim and land fully clothed, when they were soon jettisoned. I saw two men on skis approaching.
One of them, as confirmed by sources close to the Buccaneers, was Tampa Bay backup quarterback Blaine Gabbert, who lives on Davis Island and was part of the rescue effort. A man helped his father on one jet ski and he and his mother on the other.
“They slowly took us back to the shore and took us to a sandy beach near the yacht club to hang out for a while. It was really nice,” Hap said. “Once we got to the flat, we exchanged greetings. We were the only ones there for a while, so they were really an asset to help us. It was a handshake and a big thank you.” They went out for a fun afternoon drive and happened to come across a family in a stranded helicopter.”
Photo credit: Hunter Happ
The Tampa Police arrived by boat within five minutes, but there were two jet skis there, so I spent less time alone in the water.
“We think of all the assumptions,” said Happ, who lives and works in sales in Philadelphia. “What happened was clearly not great, but we handled it pretty well.”
Gabbert, 33, is in his 12th season in the NFL and fourth with the Bucks, but hasn’t played a snap this season as Tom Brady’s top backup. A win could give Tampa Bay a second straight title, but that wasn’t the only thing Gabbert had on Thursday.
Happ said he didn’t know one of his rescuers was an NFL quarterback because they only exchanged first names, but of Gabbert’s description, he said, “I think it’s the one that my mother was clinging to.” rice field.
“My mother said she wanted to meet Tom Brady while we were here. ‘I think she got pretty close.’
Tampa Police said an engine failure had forced the helicopter to make an emergency landing just after 5 p.m. said there wasn’t. Initial reports from the police were only that all four people aboard survived and agencies were working to remove the submerged helicopter from the water.
Gabbert has a home in the Davis Islands, a community that several Tampa Bay professional athletes, including Brady, have called home.
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Greg Auman is FOX Sports’ NFC South reporter covering the Buccaneers, Falcons, Panthers and Saints. He entered his 10th season covering the NFL full-time with the Bucks, Tampa Bay he spent with The Times and The Athletic. You can follow him on Twitter. @gregauman.
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