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Man, cats, rescued from rising water

rick

rick

Administrator
By Keith Rhoades | krhoades@reportert.com
Tuesday January 16, 2007

MORGAN COUNTY

A man and his two cats were rescued Monday afternoon from a cabin on Sycamore Lake.

Two members of the Indiana Department of Natural Resources were called to rescue Randy Taylor, Indianapolis, and his two cats.

Taylor said he didn’t think the water was going to rise as quickly as it did and he was caught off guard. Sycamore Lake is on Ind. 67 north of Martinsville.

Taylor said his cabin is a weekend getaway place for his cats, Smokey and Bessie and him.

He said the water didn’t act like it did last time when the lake flooded.

He said two residents who also live on the lake urged him to leave, but he thought it would be safe. His cabin is built on high ground and Taylor didn’t think the water would come inside. When his rescuers arrived, water was at the front door.

DNR officers Bryan Knoy and Scott Johnson took an airboat out to...

Full story: http://www.reporter-times.com/?module=displaystory&story_id=38402&format=html
 
Rick,

Good article. Sad weather they're having up there. Kind of a strange looking boat isn't it?

ATV type engine?

Basketcase
 
Boy that is an odd looking Airboat and it has a steering wheel I wonder who built the boat and the bow is really blunt
 
Cool little boat. Gitter done :) .

I love the story about how Sean Penn showed up over in New Orleans after Katrina ....... big photo op kinda thing with the cameras rolling to watch the phony bastard go out and rescue somebody.
They say he made it something like 200 yards before he sheared the prop off of his kicker boat.

Airboats are the future for lots of stuff, folks. We're just not selling that idea well enough.
What if we made it a project to get every boater on this site SAR qualified ? Arranged for the classes. Held them several times a year, and in several different regions of the State.

Oops. Sorry. Thinkin out loud again.

olf
 
it definitely keeps there Cg low but I would not have thought that it has enough muscle for a rescue boat carry a load of people out of a bad area like fast waters of a flood :shock:
 
I wonder what motor they are using on it, the specs say it is 120 hp it looks like it is a 2 stroke but the biggest motor that Rotax builds is a 572 and its only about 80 to 85 hp
 
Yep, it looks like a rivercraft airboat. :shock:
Please note, the coments below are mine, and mine alone.....
In all my airboat training experience and especially around swiftwater, I've never run across an airboat that is more DANGEROUS than a rivercraft airboat used for swiftwater rescue..
Between the poor (read non existent) power to weight ratio and the minimal freeboard (when loaded), this airboat company should be brought up on criminal charges for advertising this airboat as a rescue craft... I realize this sounds quite harsh, but after instructing numerous fire departments that have rivercraft airboats, (on swiftwater rescue) I have come to appreciate how dangerous these airboats can be, and I won't do any swiftwater training for a department that has this type of craft..
Just like everything else in this world, buyer beware... OK, I'm off my soapbox now. Let's hear the negative feedback to my ranting, I can take it.... (I think.....) :D
Later folks.
Brian.
 
Folks, my posting above should in no way demote or take away from anything the great guys at IDNR did with their airboat and rescue.. Just got kinda carried away with some of the other postings about how neat these airboats seem to be...
Brian.
 
Yea wing man but if folks like you did not speak up and tell us about dangerous products we would never know until we found out the hard way so thanks for speaking up
 
My dad and Randy went to high school together at Martinsville.I have a picture of me and him driving his boat on that lake when I was about 4 or 5. Talk about a small world.
 
No offense Brian, but in a situation like the one in this article where there was no swift water involved, it made me proud to see an airboat in the paper.

Success sometimes comes in very small bites. I agree with you that are airboats like yours that are much better equipped for swift water emergencies than the little boat in this article, but the point is that they used an airboat to do it.

Indianapolis, IN is a hell of a long way from Orange, TX or Melbourne, FL. That tells me that the Concept (the real value) of an airboat is beginning to catch on.

Instead of denying small agencies the benefit of all the experience you have, please consider continuing to train little agencies that have these Rivercraft airboats with the idea that while they may be ill equipped, somebody's husband or daddy will be operating one of them.
Point out their deficiencies to the local people who will be operating them so they can live to order a better boat. Be an ambassador for the concept, but a gentle critic of the equipment they're using.

Don't mean to offend,

Ken
 
Very well put Olf Art I guess we just get spoiled with these big Boats but Brian like me just doesn't want to see any one get hurt
 
olf art,

I've never been reprimanded so eloquently in my life, thank you Sir... :wink: You are correct! And your also correct that there was no swiftwater involved.. I just get a little carried away when someone mentioned that they (rivercraft) has a pretty neat video... And we both know a picture is worth a thousand words so that video is "priceless"... Arrggggg.................... :D
The problem with training Fire Departments that have rivercrafts is that I have to substantially LOWER my standards to train on these airboats AND still keep everyone alive and safe. What I'm faced with is if I do training with these airboats, then I'm condoning their use for the type of training being done.
The IDNR boys in the story use that airboat everyday and they know what it can do and what it can't, and they have the operational hours to help back them up if anything goes wrong.. And to be fair, the rivercraft can be a good choice for very small, very limited evacuations... The issue comes up with departments that only take the airboat out for training and if their lucky, might accumulate 10 hours a year on it.. With a larger airboat, it's more forgiving and safer for the operator. With the rivercraft, there is NO room for error. One "aw shi*" and down you go...
Damn guys, I got on my soapbox again!!! :shock: Sorry... :wink:

Olf Art, once again, you da man!! Thanks.

Brian.
 
That was no reprimand Sir, just a thought. Thanks to you and Sniper for taking it the way I had intended. I almost deleted it after I'd posted it because I didn't want to sound like a know it all. I'm surely not.

K.
 
Brian and Olf Art I think a perfect example of using an Airboat and not knowing what you are doing was that tragedy that happened a few months back where that fire Dept sunk an Airboat with the elderly woman on the bow that I think is what Brian is trying to avoid happening again by letting us know of the limitations of this small boat.
 
Yes Sir, exactly. A lot of small communities probably don't pay much more for their fire trucks than the cost of a well equipped SAR boat, so it's probably a pretty hard sell for a city council somewhere to get a good, safe one.

Maybe Stan and Faron or Dakota Airboats can take a look at that market/price range and come up with a more attractive alternative to the Rivercraft. They'd sell a ton of em if they did in my opinion.

olf
 
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