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WWE’s Shane McMahon Safe after Helicopter Makes Emergency Landing

While the incident was “unnerving,” he praised the pilot for keeping him calm.

Shane McMahon, the son of WWE chairman Vince McMahon and Linda McMahon, the administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration, was the lone passenger on a chartered helicopter flight that made an emergency water landing approximately a half-mile off Gilgo Beach in New York on Wednesday.

The professional wrestling executive and occasional performer was flying to Westhampton in the Robinson R44II helicopter when he heard a bang, and the pilot informed him that they would be making an emergency landing in the water. A commercial flight heading to JFK Airport picked up the mayday call and informed controllers of the landing, according to reports.

While McMahon called the situation “unsettling” and “unnerving,” he said the pilot remained “super calm” and that, in turn, made him stay calm. When speaking to reporters (above), the pilot said the autorotation “went as good as it could go,” and he even laughed about having to leave his shoes in the helicopter.

Fortunately, they landed close to a lifeguard stand and it quickly became a story fit for Baywatch.

“We ran up and got kayaks and we paddled out, a short trip out there. Those guys actually handled it really well, the two gentlemen in the helicopter, actually really calm and collected,” one of the lifeguards told the New York CBS affiliate. “We put them on the kayaks and just swam along with them until the Coast Guard met us about halfway in.”

The FAA is investigating the incident.

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