Tampa Baywatch! Jet-skiing Bucs QB Blaine Gabbert helps rescue four helicopter crash survivors

A helicopter crash in Tampa Bay almost turned deadly, till the pilot and all three passengers had been rescued with assist from backup Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Blaine Gabbert.

Philadelphia salesman Hunter Hupp and his mother and father, Wes and Lisa, had been aboard a helicopter on Thursday night when the rotor made a loud noise, which was later decided to be brought on by an engine failure. The pilot was shortly pressured to make an emergency touchdown about 200 yards from Davis Islands, the place Gabbert and different Bucs gamers, together with Tom Brady, have residences.

‘Let me let you know, helicopters sink actually quick,’ Hupp instructed the Tampa Bay Times on Friday. ‘We realized that quite shortly.’

A helicopter crash in Tampa Bay almost turned deadly, till the pilot and all three passengers had been rescued with assist from backup Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Blaine Gabbert

Hunter Hupp (proper), a Philadelphia salesman, and his mother and father Wes and Lisa (background) had been aboard a helicopter on Thursday night when the rotor made a loud noise, which was later decided to be brought on by an engine failure. The pilot was shortly pressured to make an emergency touchdown about 200 yards from Davis Islands, the place Gabbert and different Bucs gamers, together with Tom Brady , have residences

While his mother and father and the pilot each made it out of the helicopter safely, Hupp struggled to free himself because the plane shortly started to tackle water and sink. Ultimately he received out and commenced treading water with the opposite three.

They thought-about attempting to swim for land after they had been approached by two males on jet skis, one in every of whom turned out to be Gabbert.

Gabbert and his fellow jet ski rider put Hupp’s mother and father aboard their vessels and by some means managed to carry all four again to a close-by seashore, as defined by the Tampa Bay Times.

‘They slowly introduced us again to the shore, a sandy seashore close to the yacht membership, and frolicked for some time, had been very nice,’ Hupp mentioned. ‘We exchanged pleasantries upon reaching flat floor. They had been actually an asset to serving to us out, as a result of we had been the one ones on the market for some time. It was a handshake and an enormous and ‘Thank you a lot.’ They went out for a pleasant afternoon trip and simply occurred to come back upon a stranded helicopter household.’

A photograph of the crashed helicopter that went down in Tampa Bay on Thursday night 

Tampa Police are pictured on the scene of Thursday’s helicopter crash by Fox 13

Tampa Police are pictured on the scene of Thursday’s helicopter crash by Fox 13

Tampa Police would arrive roughly 5 minutes later, however Gabbert and his pal managed to assist the four victims keep away from a doubtlessly deadly scenario by bringing them to dry land.

‘We take into consideration all of the what-ifs,’ mentioned Hupp, who lives in Philadelphia and works in gross sales. ‘What occurred clearly wasn’t nice, however we managed fairly nicely for what occurred.’

Hupp didn’t instantly identified that he was saved by an NFL participant, however when given an outline of Gabbert, instructed the Times: ‘I believe that was the one my mother was clinging to.’

‘My mother mentioned she hoped to fulfill Tom Brady whereas we had been down right here,’ he mentioned. ‘I believe she got here fairly darn shut.’

The 33-year-old Gabbert is now in his twelfth NFL season and fourth in Tampa, the place he has but to play this season. The former first-round pick of Missouri additionally backed up Brady all through the 2020 season, which ended with the Bucs successful a Super Bowl title.

Tampa Police are seen attempting to get well the crashed helicopter after Thursday’s crash