Shane McMahon Rescued After Helicopter Makes Emergency Landing

WWE executive Shane McMahon was rescued from the water off of Long Island’s Gilgo Beach after the helicopter he was riding in made an emergency landing on Wednesday. Neither McMahon nor the pilot were harmed – no one else was on board.

McMahon, son of WWE chairman and CEO Vince McMahon and the current Administrator of the Small Business Administration Linda McMahon, departed from the West Side Heliport in New York City in the Robinson R 44 helicopter early Wednesday morning. McMahon was headed to visit family in Westhampton, Long Island.

Shortly after take off, the pilot issued a mayday call. A commercial flight headed to JFK heard the distress call and alerted the Federal Aviation Administration, according to ABC7. 

Mario Regtien, the pilot, safely landed the helicopter in the water where the two were met by two lifeguards, and NYPD Aviation and SCUBA units. The men were taken safely to shore.

“We heard some noise and it became very clear to me that I could no longer continue flying the helicopter,” Regtien told reporters after the landing. “It went as good as it could go. Landed softly, and I checked to see if [McMahon] was OK. Everyone was fine, and we waited for the Coast Guard at that point.”

Looking down at his feet, the pilot also noted, “I left my shoes in the helicopter in case we had to swim.”

“It is very unsettling when all the sudden you have something happen,” McMahon said from the ground. “You hear a bang, and then you start saying, ‘We’re going to do an emergency landing in the water.’ So yes, it was very unnerving. But again, Mario was super calm, which made me super calm. And we landed perfectly.”

He spoke more about Regtien’s well executed maneuver. “He did an amazing job. He was cool under pressure. I couldn’t have been in better hands.”

McMahon also took to Twitter afterwards to thank several people.

“I’d like to thank the man upstairs for looking out this morning & thanks to pilot Mario, Suffolk Co. Marine Bureau & Fire Island Coast Guard,” he wrote.

McMahon, 47, returned to WWE in 2016 after leaving in 2009. Before leaving, he was a fan-favorite wrestler, often making daring jumps from atop cages. In his return, McMahon has served as SmackDown commissioner alongside former wrestler Daniel Bryan.