The son of World Wrestling Entertainment's Vince McMahon and a pilot survive unscathed after the helicopter made a splash landing in the waters off Long Island's Gilgo Beach.
- July 20, 2017
AceShowbiz -
A chopper carrying Shane McMahon, the son of WWE Boss Vince McMahon, crash landed on Wednesday, July 19. The helicopter was forced to make an emergency landing in the waters about half a mile off Long Island's Gilgo Beach after the pilot, Mario Regtien, noticed some issues with the chopper.
Regtien launched the Robinson R44 II from Westchester County Airport Wednesday morning. He picked up McMahon, who chartered the flight to visit family on Long Island, at the West 30th Street Heliport in Manhattan.
McMahon recalled the moment he knew the helicopter was down. "It's very unsettling when all the sudden you have something happen. You hear a bang and then that we're gonna do an emergency landing in the water," he said in a video posted on YouTube.
Regtien said they were cruising at about 1,400 feet off of the south shore when they heard "some noises." He added, "It became very clear to me that I could no longer continue flying the helicopter." The pilot issued a Mayday before making the "controlled landing" at 10:30 A.M. "It was a controlled flight down, and it went as good as it could go," Retgien said.
Luckily, Donny Dobby, a Babylon lifeguard, noticed something was wrong with the chopper and quickly came to the rescue. "I was setting up this morning and the helicopter caught my eye because it was flying too low. It just went down hard. I saw a big splash and I ran and grabbed the binoculars," he said. "It had the emergency pontoons deployed, so I knew something was wrong with the chopper."
Dobby and co-worker Zak Viverito jumped into kayaks and paddled out to the hobbled chopper before the U.S. Coast Guard arrived. "The two guys were really relieved to see us - you could see it on their faces," Dobby said. "They were shaken up but they handled it very well."
Neither McMahon nor Regtion was injured and both declined medical attention, authorities said.
McMahon later took to Twitter to express his gratitude to the lifeguards. "I'd like to thank the man upstairs for looking out this morning & thanks to pilot Mario, Suffolk Co. Marine Bureau & Fire Island Coast Guard," he posted.
I'd like to thank the man upstairs for looking out this morning & thanks to pilot Mario, Suffolk Co. Marine Bureau & Fire Island Coast Guard
— Shane McMahon (@shanemcmahon) July 19, 2017
The helicopter was towed to a Coast Guard station on Fire Island.
