Butler native Chris Shields was one of two Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University flight students who helped in the rescue of an 81-year-old downed pilot.

Shields, a senior, and Connor Cvetan, a flight instructor and aeronautical science junior at the Daytona Beach University, were flying near Palatka, Fla., March 14 when they heard an emergency call over the radio that a pilot nearby had just experienced engine failure at 800 feet.

“We were members of the Eagles Flight team. It’s a competitive team for solely flight events. We were practicing precision landings,” said Shields, who will graduate from Embry-Riddle in May.

Immediately, they headed in the direction of the emergency call.

“You never panic in an emergency, as panicking will only worsen the situation,” Shields said. “I just kept calm and did what needed to be done to get the individual the help he needed.”

First, Shields contacted the pilot in distress and tried to help with his landing. He pointed out an empty field directly below the aircraft as a possible landing site, told him the wind was blowing east and suggested flying against it to reduce speed.

“He couldn’t put it in the field,” Shields said. “When he descended to 1,000 feet the engine failed on him.”

The pilot — later identified as retired airline captain Jim Goolsby, 86, — tried for the field, then a nearby road. “But I couldn’t make it,” he said. “I was out of altitude.”

Then it was too late.

“When I saw the plane touch down into the water, my heart sank,” Cvetan said. “Our first thought was to try to contact the pilot. No luck. That’s when we determined that calling Jacksonville (air traffic control) was the best option.”

Shields said: “He barely made it to the pond. It was a pretty large pond. I wouldn’t call it a lake. He was about 100 to 200 feet from shore.”

“Once I saw the impact I, went onto guard frequency and started announcing what had happened,” he said.“ A couple of aircraft responded and a Jacksonville approach controller responded as well.

“I stated that an experimental aircraft had an engine failure and had landed in a small pond 3 nautical miles north of the Palatka airport,” Shields said. “At this point, we were over the aircraft at about 1,500 feet and I continued to climb to 2,000 feet as I circled them.”

The students determined the exact coordinates of the crash and relayed them to emergency services. Then they began circling the area, offering updates and information about the aircraft — which, by then, was floating in the pond below, its canopy open — to the U.S. Navy and Coast Guard over the radio. It would be another few minutes before ground vehicles arrived to the crash site. By then, Goolsby could be seen standing on top of his plane, which was slowly sinking.

But he was stuck.

“Swimming to the shore nearby was out of the question because of a large gator in the immediate area,” Goolsby said.

At that point, Shields and Cvetan, who had been flying their Cessna 150 for nearly three hours, were running low on fuel. They made one last call to emergency services to offer updates before leaving the site. Soon after, a Navy helicopter arrived to retrieve Goolsby and transport him to safety.

“Unfortunately, I did not get to meet the pilot,” Shields said. “But I was told he was in good spirits and thankful for the help.”

Shield said Goolsby later sent a Facebook message to Embry-Riddle thanking them.

“From my first day of flight training at Embry-Riddle, the main focus has always been safety,” Shields said. “Embry-Riddle teaches students checklists (and) emergency procedures, and exposes students to as many simulated emergency situations as possible in preparation for the day that a real one inevitably occurs.

“This situation was one that there was no checklist for, but I still understood how to effectively handle it all due to the safety-focused training that Embry-Riddle provided me.”

He added that, although in-flight emergencies are rare, the experience gained from them can often make one a better pilot.

Which is good, because the 2018 Butler High School graduate has wanted to be a pilot since he was 14.

“It was a trip to the National Air and Space Museum. I said to myself ‘This is what I want.’ My parents got me a flight simulator set-up and later introductory flights at the Pittsburgh-Butler Airport,” he said.

Upon graduation from Embry-Riddle this spring, the son of Suzanne and Carl Shields of Butler will begin pilot training with Endeavor Air, a regional airline that is a subsidiary of Delta Airlines.

“I have experienced emergencies in the past and, as with all emergency situations, the experience you gain from them is invaluable,” Shields said. “Every emergency situation forces you to make split-second decisions that could have catastrophic consequences. The experience I gained from this situation will definitely help prepare me for my airline career when I leave Embry-Riddle this upcoming summer and, in fact, it’ll help me to make split-second decisions for as long as I fly.”

Embry-Riddle’s Aviation Safety Department will soon award Shields and Cvetan its monthly Aviation Safety Award for their efforts in assisting a pilot in need.