Menlo is now saying that there is no way they can use the air boat from the Palo Alto launch, the tide is too low.

Moffett Field has a rescue helicopter that is available.

The commanders on-site say that the helicopter is looking like the only option as she is completely surrounded by mud.

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The Menlo Park FD air boat has been canceled by the Palo Alto Fire Department, and the US Coast Guard has been called for assistance in the rescue.

Menlo is now telling Palo Alto that their boat can be launched onto the ground and be driven onto the mud and would like to attempt a rescue.

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Menlo Fire is now reporting that the air boat is experiencing a mechanical failure and they are aborting the launch.

The US Coast Guard helicopter is being prepped at SFO for takeoff which takes 30 minutes. The victim is being notified of her impending helicopter ride from her private muddy island. ;-)

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Thanks for the commentary on what seems to be a "keystone cops" adventure. Hope the woman ends up all right for all of this. How did she get out there, and how are you able to follow all this? Police scanner? Maybe I'm jumping to conclusions, but I would have expected public safety communications would have been encrypted and digitized years ago.

Your welcome OO,

She was getting pretty cold out there at last report, I think that is when they decided to call in the big guns.

I know it is hard to be believe, but a $80 reciver from Fry's and a website like radioreference.com can open you up to a world of information that is passing through you all the time.

PAFD just did an update on the victim. She is a 62yo female. The coast guard helo is on the way and Palo Alto medics have been notified to meet the helo once it lands with her as she may be suffering from hypothermia.

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Coast Guard is landing in 5 minutes. Kudos to the PAFD for staying out on the cold mud with the victim.

Palo Alto medics have her, and after an evaluation will be taking her to a hospital. Thanks to PAFD, MPFD, MVFD, and the USCG for saving her.

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Does your $80 receiver pickup trunked channels? If so, what model are you using?

So this story is on the front page of the Daily Post. They have a pretty good synopsis of the story, but I just have to correct them on the Menlo Park airboat issue.

They quote the battalion chief as saying "You try an airboat, the airboat doesn't work."

Then later in the article it states "Then Palo Alto called Menlo Park to borrow that fire department's airboat, but by the time it was ready to go, it was determined that the water was too shallow."

I'm sorry, but it makes it sound as if the chief was saying that the airboat wouldn't work in this situation. That was not the case at all. In fact the Palo Alto FD was not even aware that the Menlo Park airboat could even be ground launched and initially ruled it as an option.

Palo Alto then decided to ask Menlo again when the Mountain View paddle boat wasn't working. Once Menlo was on the way, Palo Alto told them again that they thought the boat wasn't going to work, and to go ahead and cancel.

Menlo asked them if they could give it a shot. Palo Alto informed them that they had no water to launch into. Menlo then advised them that they didn't need any water to launch their boat.

Palo Alto wasn't aware of the capability but once the airboat was on scene it was discovered to have a mechanical fault and could not be launched. That is when it was decided that the helicopter was the only option.

The offers for help from Moffett and Mountain View didn't even get mentioned.

Also, the Daily Post starts off the article calling the Menlo Park airboat a "hovercraft".

This is an image of the Menlo Park airboat.

Web Link

This is a video of a small hovercraft.

Web Link

How the Daily Post could get them confused is beyond me. ;-) I'm glad the lady made it through the ordeal. Must have been a hoot watching it all from her own private island.

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Is her name "Gilligan'??

Those who including my husband and I, who were watching the sensational moonrise last night from outside the park gates (the gates closed at 5:30 for inbound traffic) could see all this activity. My question, WHAT was she doing out there, how did she get out there in the first place, and why didn't she get out before the tide went out? And will she pay for the rescue?

Two things. Why isn't there a hovercraft somewhere around here, I actually thought PAFD had one at Rinconada Fire Station? Someone should have a hovercraft (rather than a plaque at City Hall Plaza).

Secondly, where is the report from the Weekly on this issue? It seems to me that the Weekly is good at telling us what the news will be in advance (who will be mayor, etc.), and then that that news happened, but actual news information is being neglected.

Wow, just think if she REALLY needed help. Like right now. Heart attack?

Good job,PAFD? Wow what would happen if it was a plane down with multi passangers?

No foothill plan, No bayland plan. Spineless chief?

HELP THE FIREFIGHTERS, GET SOMEONE TO LEAD THEM? Listen to them?

People who hike off trail in the baylands need to be aware of changing tides from -7 feet to +7 feet - a 14' change. By the way, it is Byxbee Park, not Bixby.

Is there a table of high/low tides posted anywhere round there? I haven't seen one and I haven't seen them published in the local paper as I have in other communities that are situated near tidal waters. Come to think of it, I have never seen any Danger notice about tides either. How much would a few signs cost? A lot less than a plaque at City Hall Plaza, I'm sure.

Here is a link to the Palo Alto creek/ tide chart..Web Link

MPFD really needs service that boat more often. They couldn't use the airboat because the motor wouldn't start. Doh!

To resident and others:

There are tide tables posted at the entrance to the PA Baylands boat launch dock. I presume they are recent.

Tide tables are available at any boating supply store and at many web locations like [Web Link There is no excuse for a technologically sophisticated town (even our self-styled one) to not have them.

Easily readable tide tables should be posted at key points; for starters, at all parking areas and bike racks. The boat ramp is too far out in the sticks to benefit most visitors. Maybe colorful solar-powered animated electronic displays would give the concept the technodazzle needed to motivate the technotyros in our city hall but, in the meantime paper, toner, and a laminating machine will do just fine. Just do it, Parks & Rec.

Thanks engineeer

And Paul Losch, if you are reading this, a few Danger, check tides signs at all trailheads would be a good idea too. I have walked around the Baylands many times and it has never occurred to me to check tides. I assume that any trail would be safe. Now, if I was taking a boat or windsurfing, I might check before I leave home. Otherwise, tide tables at the boat launch are not good enough for those walking.

Is there some reason a canoe wouldn't work?

Good thing we kept the Palo Alto airport for emergency rescue operations!

Anyone not able to detect a slowly rising tide shouldn't be allowed anywhere near water. Maybe Joe Simitian can come up with a new law.

Amazed,

The reason the canoe wouldn't work was because the tide was going out, not coming in. The diameter of mud around the lady was expanding. The closest the firefighters ever got was 50 yards. They could have waited a few hours for the tide to come back up, but by then the woman would have been a mud popsicle.

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