Braving the Waters

A helicopter pilot responds to a once-in-a-lifetime flood with a once-in-a-lifetime rescue

- By Brad Schmitt

Joel Boyers and his fiancée, Melody Among, were heading home from the Nashville airport after she earned her helicopter's pilot license when he received a frantic call from a stranger in Pennsylvania. The caller told Boyers that her brother and his two daughters were trapped on their roof in Waverly, 60 miles from Nashville. They were surrounded by rising floodwaters caused by last August's record-shattering rains and didn't think they would survive.

Desperate, the caller had Googled “Nashville helicopters,” and Boyers's company, Helistar Aviation, was the first to pop up. She pleaded, Could Boyers please, please rescue her loved ones?

Boyers, 41, looked west toward Waverly and saw the storm clouds. “Ma'am,” he said, “no one will fly in this weather, and for good reason.”