WATCH: Flying man spots woman clinging to submerged car in a South Florida canal
A man piloting a personal flying machine made an unscheduled landing on an open field Sunday morning after he saw a woman clinging to the roof of a submerged car in a nearby canal in Miami-Dade County, video shows.
Cristiano Piquet, a Miami resident, told the Miami Herald that he was recording his flight like he does every Sunday before going to church when he observed an alligator splashing in the water north of Homestead at around 8 a.m.
“I turned around to get a shot of the alligator, and I saw a car under the water,” he said. “I flew closer to the car and I saw a woman on top.”
The 40-year-old added that he had to be careful not to hit any power lines when he landed with his paramotor — a personal flying machine consisting of a paraglider and an engine-powered propeller strapped to the pilot. He then removed the heavy equipment from his back, went to the canal and asked if she needed help.
“Oh my God!” the woman shouted in the video. “I fell with my car in here.”
Piquet, owner of Piquet Realty, said he proceed to get help from a man who lives nearby. Using a rope, the man pulled the stranded woman to safety.
In the video, the woman can be heard yelping as she was being rescued. It also shows Miami-Dade Fire Rescue personnel at the scene.
According to Miami-Dade fire, six units responded to the traffic accident involving a vehicle in a canal near the 20400 block of Southwest 192nd Street at 8:35 a.m. Finding the driver already out of the water, crews searched the area to make sure that no one else was in the canal and took the woman to the hospital.
Piquet, who has been paramotoring since 2015, noted he was happy to have missed church if it meant helping save the life of the woman who may have drowned if he hadn’t spotted her on time.
“For some reason I was better suited being there at the right place and the right time,” he said.
This story was originally published October 30, 2022 at 7:06 PM with the headline "WATCH: Flying man spots woman clinging to submerged car in a South Florida canal."
