Inside ‘busy season’ for hero local Coast Guard crew

These boots-on-the-ground rescues start from thousands of feet in the air.

The busy season is just ramping up for the US Coast Guard’s Air Station Atlantic City crew, which patrols the skies and conducts search-and-rescue operations from the Long Island Sound to the Chesapeake Bay, crew members told The Post in an exclusive interview Monday.

“It was kind of a slow start to our busy season … but it’s been picking up lately,” said Cmdr. Randall Slusher, a pilot whose team’s coastal coverage includes that of the Big Apple, Jersey Shore and Long Island almost daily.

He said the colder spring months staved off droves of recreational boaters until after Memorial Day weekend — then all heck broke loose.

“There’s a lot of people out on the water this time of year, all trying to use the same space,” Slusher said. “We’ll have everything from boat crashes to jet skis getting stuck to people in the water, especially when riptides are heavy.”

The eight-chopper fleet’s more dramatic search-and-rescue operations involve crew members using giant baskets and slings to hoist people to safety while also regularly picking up and flying cruise-ship passengers for emergency medical treatment.

It’s not uncommon for training crews to be diverted to rescue missions while in the air, either.

During Manhattan’s Fleet Week in May, the team’s own demonstration was diverted for an actual offshore search mission.

And “last year, we had a case where the crew was doing a normal training on Saturday morning and upon coming back, saw someone … in the water, and we pulled him out,” pilot Lt. Tyler Smith said.

“We’ve recently had a few cases where you’re flying around and seeing someone clinging to a boat or clinging into a jet ski,” Smith said.

He said one of his most memorable saves involved rescuing two boaters in February when their vessel capsized off the coast of Staten Island, killing three other passengers.

The air station also assisted in search and rescue operations during the Baltimore bridge disaster in March.

“When you have to rescue people that really need help, it’s hard to beat that — it’s a rewarding experience,” Slusher said.

The jumpsuit-clad heroes provide air space security during presidential travel and major tri-state area events such as United Nations summits, too.

In the wintertime, the crew even provides aid to duck hunters who frequently get stuck on the water, Slusher said.

Jet ski incidents in particular have exploded recently, he said. Last week, the crew hoisted two jet skiers stuck in South Jersey marshland.

Slusher said one memorable incident occurred in 2016 when a pair of New Jersey teens stole their parents’ jet skis and took them for a joy ride through the mud.

“The cabin of the helicopter was a [muddy] disaster,” Smith recalled of the teens’ rescue. “I think they took a shower … and we gave them clothes so their mom could come pick them up.”

False-alarm and prank distress calls are unfortunately a regular issue the crew has to deal with, too, he said.

Prank calls can happen multiple times a week, but the crew still must treat every instance as if it were a real emergency, Slusher said.

“We spend a lot of time flying on those,” he said. “Very rarely is it actually someone in distress.”

Petty Officer Adam Timberlake, a flight mechanic who inspects the crew’s choppers before and after each flight, said, “I think our mission is so unique: We’re a military branch, and lifesaving is our goal.”

For 24-year-old helicopter rescue swimmer Hunter Ruddell, his first two years on the team have been nothing short of eventful.

In October, Ruddell drove a distressed boater in the Long Island Sound back to shore after the boat’s operator fell ill and his ship was taking on water, he said.

The rescue operation also doubled as the first time Ruddell had ever operated a boat.

“I had no idea how to drive a boat, I was just holding onto the steering wheel making sure we were going in the right direction,” the Florida native said. “But the crazy thing is … I didn’t have my phone, so I just followed my [smart] watch the entire time.

“There’s crazy days, but it’s really fun,” he added.

Roughly a month after the Long Island rescue, Ruddell and his crew members pulled two elderly boaters and their two dogs to safety after they were beached for hours in rising tides on Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay. 

“[The boat operator] wasn’t following the correct path, and they got caught at low tide,” he said. “Everyone was alright, but they would’ve gotten hypothermia if they were there for much longer.

“You can’t really train for the cases that you’re gonna get,” Ruddell said.

“You really have to adapt, and overcome the cases that you do get.”