Some of you who use kayaks may appreciate this story!

 

From a small airport north of St Augustine, Florida, this morning a student pilot took off on her own alone from this airport and crashed into the salt marshes about 2 miles north of the airport. A police officer in the area witnessed the plane going down and was first on the scene. Shortly after he arrived, a battalion fire chief arrived at the crash scene and commandeered a neighbor's kayak next door and used it to go rescue the pilot.

 

The kayak was used to fish the salt marshes, and had not been used in a while, but was fortunately readily available to help save a life today! So a fisherman unknowingly helped save a life today by leaving his fishing kayak on the dock behind his house.

 

https://www.wokv.com/news/local/neighbors-kayak-helps-firefighters-rescue-student-pilot-who-crashed-st-augustine-creek/JMKH3VZTPBFMPBJX7Y7CO44VQI/

 

Neighbor’s kayak helps firefighters rescue student pilot who crashed in St. Augustine creek

 

By Madison Foglio, Action News Jax

October 23, 2025 at 2:28 pm EDT

 

ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. — A young pilot is lucky to be alive after her plane crashed in a marsh just hundreds of feet from people’s homes in St. Augustine.

The plane crashed in Redfish Creek, less than two miles north of the St. Augustine Airport.

 

“My heart’s still racing,” neighbor Mary Strong said.

Strong was coming home from pickleball Thursday morning when she got a call she’ll never forget.

“A neighbor called and said she’d heard an explosion. I didn’t know what was going on. I was scared the house had blown up,” Strong said.

 

She immediately drove home and learned a small plane had crashed in the marsh behind her house.

“The aircraft departed off Runway 31 about 7:50 this morning. Upon departure, the aircraft had some trouble,” Courtney Pittman, Interim Executive Director of the St. Augustine Airport, said.

Pittman said the pilot is in her early 20s and is a student at a local flight school. The Florida Highway Patrol said the pilot was taken to the hospital with minor injuries.

 

When St. Johns County Fire Rescue arrived, they used a kayak at a nearby dock to paddle out to the pilot and bring her back to shore.

“It’s heroic, I don’t know any other words,” Chris Naff, public information officer with SJCFR, said.

 

It’s a kayak that Strong knows all too well.

“That was your husband’s kayak?” Action News Jax’s Madison Foglio asked.

“Yes,” Strong said. “We have not used it in months, but I’m happy it came in handy to get that pilot out of there.”

FHP is investigating the crash. We are working to find out what caused the plane to go down.

 

 

The fire chief who rescued the pilot has been publicly named as Carlos Aviles. He is also the city of St. Augustine's emergency response manager as well as a fire chief battalion.

 

On the morning of the plane crash he was driving nearby and witnessed the plane going down. He along with a sheriff who also witnessed the plane going down arrived on the scene before other first responders could arrive on the scene. Two men alone on the scene without backup.

 

The pilot was trying to exit the plane as it was quickly sinking. Fire Chief Carlos Aviles did not wait for backup help to arrive. The injured pilot was in danger of drowning. The entire plane sunk out of sight leaving only a wing tip above water.

 

Time was critical. Without wasting any time and risking his own life he took it upon himself to act immediately and commandeered a kayak in unknown condition from a next door dock and used it to paddle out to rescue the injured pilot. He was able to help her exit the sinking plane and climb onto the kayak and safely bring her to shore.

 

This man is a certified hero who risked his life without hesitation to save another life.

 

https://www.citystaug.com/directory.aspx?EID=29