Alone in the Sky, Pilot and Fiancee Save 17 in Tennessee Flood

Alone in the Sky, Pilot and Fiancee Save 17 in Tennessee Flood
Nashville-based helicopter pilot Joel Boyers rescuing people from a rooftop, in Waverly, Tenn., on Aug. 21, 2021. Jeani Rice-Cranford via AP
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NASHVILLE, Tenn.—Nashville-based helicopter pilot Joel Boyers had just finished helping his fiancee earn her pilot’s license on Saturday morning, and they were heading home to celebrate, when he received a frantic call from a woman in Pennsylvania. Her brother’s home in Waverly, Tennessee, was underwater and he was trapped on a roof with his daughters. Could Boyers help?

“I thought, ‘How would I feel if I told her I’m not even going to try?’” he said in a Thursday interview. “She just so happened to call the right person, because I’m the only person crazy enough to even try to do that.”