Helicopter pilot and fiancee save 17 people in Tennessee flood [Video]

• A Nashville-based helicopter pilot and his fiancée rescued people who were trapped during a devastating flood in Tennessee.
• Joel Boyers, co-owner of Helistar Aviation, and his fiancée, Melody Among, saved 17 people.
• Joel said he and Melody will be bonded to all the people they saved for life.

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Nashville-based helicopter pilot Joel Boyers had just finished helping his fiancee, Melody Among, earn her pilot’s license and they were heading home to celebrate when he received a frantic call from a woman in Pennsylvania. Her brother’s home in Waverly, Tennessee, was underwater and he was trapped on a roof with his daughters.

“I thought, ‘How would I feel if I told her I’m not even going to try?’” he said in an interview. “She just so happened to call the right person, because I’m the only person crazy enough to even try to do that.”

The weather was terrible and Joel had to contend with hills and high-voltage power lines on the way to Waverly. Just before reaching the town, he set down in a field to get his bearings and realized the internet was down, making it impossible to pinpoint the house he was looking for. He flew on anyway.

“As soon as I popped over the ridge, it was nothing but tan raging water below me,” he said. “There were two houses that were on fire. There were cars in trees. There was tons of debris. Any way debris could get caught, it was. I knew no one was going to be able to swim in that.”

A few people were out in boats, rescuing the stranded, and one person was helping with a jet ski, but Joel was alone in the sky. He started flying up and down the flooded creek, grabbing anyone he could.

Joel, who co-owns Helistar Aviation, said they ended up rescuing 17 people that day. He’s proud of that, but said he’s the one who should be thanking them. “I literally prayed just days before this that God would give me some meaning in my life, and then I end up getting this call,” he said.

It was also a powerful experience to go through with his fiancee, Melody, who acted as his co-pilot, spotting power lines, giving him sips of water and even taking the controls at times.

“Her and I will be bonded to those people for life,” he said.

At one point, he spotted four people on the ledge of a roof of a farm supply store where he was able to set down one skid, making three different trips to pick them all up. One was a woman who said she had watched her husband get swept away and had become separated from her daughter, who was on the roof of a nearby gas station. Joel touched down and rescued the daughter too.

That rescue stands out in Melody’s mind. They got the mother first, “then we got the daughter and they reunited on the ground,” she said. “They were both hugging each other. It was very emotional.”

“Every landing was pretty dangerous,” Joel said. “I know the FAA can take my license away if they see me flying like that,” he said. He assured them that he did not charge anyone for the rescue, no one was hurt, the helicopter was not damaged, and there were no law enforcement helicopters in the area.

Source: ABC News Go