CLAY COUNTY, Fla. – The Clay County Sheriff’s Office is thanking U.S. Customs and Border Protection for its partnership after one of the federal agency’s aircraft helped locate the surviving pilot of a crash that involved two planes colliding midair Wednesday morning near Green Cove Springs.
The pilot of one plane that went down in a wooded area, 74-year-old Robert Woolley, died. The pilot of the second plane involved, David Dollarhide, survived and it could be because of the assistance from CBP, as one of the agency's crews helped locate him and helped direct first responders to his location.
The CBP crew was on a P3 Orion, which was already flying for a training exercise.
When the two planes collided, the Sheriff’s Office, which doesn’t have any aerial units, asked CBP for help.
“Yesterday was just another day at the office,” CBP Air Interdiction Agent William Walsh said. "Then, all of a sudden, the phone rang and things got very complicated very quickly.”
Walsh said they knew their help was needed.
CBP Aviation Enforcement Agent Dan Grose was in the Command of Duty Office when the call came in from the Sheriff’s Office.
He said he knew one of their P3 Orions was already in the air for a training exercise.
“I asked if they were able to assist and they said absolutely. So I talked to the deputy on the phone and he gave me a general area of where the two aircraft were,” Grose said.
Within just about 10 minutes of the CBP plane diverting to the search area, the agents and technology on the plane located the surviving pilot and his plane in an open field in a rural part of Clay County.
“Through Deputy Miller and my cohorts here, we were able to talk the vehicle in to the aircraft so he could render assistance to the pilot of the first aircraft,” Grose said.
WATCH: Video from CBP P-3 Orion shows first responders arriving to help pilot
The relationship between the Sheriff’s Office and the CBP’s Air and Marine Operations in Jacksonville is unique.
CBP Agent Drew Stokes was shot multiple times in September 2017 in a Clay County shopping center parking lot and is miraculously alive today. Clay County Deputy Jacob Hawkins was one of the first to respond and is credited with saving his life.
Because of that, the two agencies now have a special bond and Hawkins said Wednesday’s support from CBP is even more meaningful.
“With the partnership we developed, it’s like having our own air unit in our backyard,” Hawkins said. “Because we’ve utilized them for a couple of different things, as well. But a great group of guys. It’s nice to know that they have the capabilities and availability to be there for us.”
Part of that growing relationship includes CBP taking about 40 Sheriff’s Office members on their flights, so when the two agencies partner, the Sheriff’s Office has a better understanding of what happens on the planes like the one that assisted in Wednesday’s search.
Other area agencies also assisted with the search, including air units from the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office and the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office.
Agents said they immediately contacted the other agencies involved and all got on the same radio frequencies, which helped ensure that they not only were searching different areas, but also that they were all at different altitudes, so there was no risk of collision.