A solo yachtsman who was dismasted and had lost the plot of his last position, was rescued after a jet plane on an international flight dropped 30,000 feet and used its passengers as in flight ‘Coastguards’.

Glenn Ey was on passage from Sydney to Auckland when his boat was dismasted 270 miles offshore in a knockdown. He activated his EPIRB and two commercial planes were ordered by the authorities to search for him.

One of them, an Air Canada flight, dropped from 35,000 feet to 5,000 feet and circled the ocean until passengers spotted Ey waving from the coach roof of his stricken yacht.

SAR services were then alerted and Ey was rescued.