On Dec. 26, 2022，Gelinne, a former Navy commander，aged 60, was gazing out the windows of his house in Edgewater. That's when his daughter, Aimee, 1 a small aircraft and cried "Look!".
Gelinne looked up in time to see the aircraft a few hundred yards away, losing 2 . As the plane disappeared behind the trees, he 3 it was going to land in the frozen creek(河湾). Without 4 , Gelinne ran down to the waterfront. The plane had slid to a stop on the frozen creek, far from shore. It was 5 . The pilot was standing on the wing.
Knowing from his Navy training that even a few minutes in the icy water could kill the pilot, Gelinne tested the ice with his foot 6 . He figured, if a kayak(皮艇) could float on the water, it could slide on the ice. 7 , he pulled his kayak out and tried using shovels to push the boat along. His first attempts left it spinning in circles, but he made progress withstrength. It was8 work.
When Gelinne 9 to reach the plane, only its tail was visible. The pilot's chest surrounded by water, he was standing on a tail wing, seized by10 . Gelinne pushed his boat off the ice and into the water, trying to keep the pilot calm. The pilot grabbed the bow(船舷) of the boat and now the two men were11 together. What Gelinne 12 to do at the very moment was getting the pilot up onto an unbroken ice shelf before the man lost too much body heat. But each time Gelinne tried to land13 the ice shelf, the kayak broke through. Fortunately, a police officer arrived and radioed for help. Then, another boat arrived just intime to 14 the pilot, Steve Couchman, 71, and helped Gelinne to shore. Exhausted, still, Gelinne was 15 with what he'd done that day.
