Mike Corey

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From Audible Originals, I'm Mike Corey, and this is Against the Odds.

On the evening of January 30, 1998, a fishing boat called the Lakonti sank in the Gulf of Alaska.

In the midst of a hellish Arctic storm, the survivors were forced to abandon ship into water that was about 38 degrees Fahrenheit, surrounded by 50-foot waves, with some rogue waves reaching as high as 70 feet.

Despite the conditions, the Coast Guard air station in Sitka launched multiple rescue attempts.

The first two helicopters were unable to save the fishermen, but a third finally succeeded in rescuing three of them.

The pilot of that third helicopter is my guest today, retired Coast Guard Captain Steve Torpey.

Captain Torpey, Steve, welcome to Against the Odds.

It's nice to be here, Mike.

I think most of our listeners probably have the perspective of seeing the scenes that pass underneath from maybe an airplane passenger window.

But I imagine being the front seat of a helicopter, you can see so much, especially up in Alaska, where there's mountains and all sorts of glaciers and things.

Can you talk a little bit about what flying in Alaska is like?

How is it different than flying in other places?

We're going to speak more about this later, but let's dive into this particular night we're talking about.

Tell me about the conditions that day.

So Steve, you and your fellow Coast Guards fly Sikorsky H-60 Jayhawk helicopters in Alaska.

Can you give us just a general layout of what it's like to fly one of these?

So January 30th, 1998, it was a Friday.

We spoke about that.