“I thought this was it,” says Thomas MacKnight, who survived a helicopter crash in the Gulf of Mexico on Wednesday.
MacKnight was transported to Blake Medical Center along with the pilot Stanley Lee. Photographer Pete Bowden received superficial cuts according to the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office and refused treatment.
Lee’s condition has been upgraded from critical to stable but he remains at Blake Medical Center.
MacKnight says the accident happened so fast he expected the worst.
Bystander Logan Bush shot fly-by video from Longboat Key about half an hour before the helicopter crashed into the Gulf. The helicopter is seen flying low -- some estimate 10-15 feet above the water -- as it was shooting footage for a powerboat company.
MacKnight says he was adjusting the settings on his camera when all of a sudden he felt a violent hit.
“The second we hit the water because there were no doors the water came in threw me back to the back of the helicopter ... As soon as we hit we went down like a rock so I was underwater.
"The helicopter started to tilt a bit I was facing down towards the floor of the gulf, I got out of the helicopter but got hung up on something and the helicopter was going down and I looked up saw the sky going away. Honestly, I thought this was it.”
MacKnight says there was an eerie calm when he was underwater.
“The weird thing was it was very peaceful when I thought it’d be my last breath. I was not concern or upset.”
And just as he thought that, MacKnight says he got loose and surfaced to find the other two crew members. He was relieved to see the boat turning around to help them.
Due to the government shutdown, the FAA has not shown up to investigate. The sheriff's office has stepped in to do some basic investigative work.
The FAA says this appears to have been an accident.
They also tell us it is up to the owner to have the helicopter removed from the water.
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