Three men and a teenager who shared life vests while adrift at sea for nearly two days said they used credit cards to reflect the sun toward the plane that eventually spotted them.
"The credit cards may have been what finally got them seen," said Air Force Maj. Gregory Rodgers, a doctor who treated the men this week after they were plucked from the water by a Coast Guard helicopter.Michael Sperber, 41, his son Matthew, 14, and friend Joe Stephens, 55, were on their way to Palm Beach Airport after a weekend fishing excursion in the Bahamas on Sunday when their twin-engine charter plane went down.
With no life raft and only three life jackets, the the passengers and the pilot survived by clinging together as they drifted north in the Gulf Stream for about 100 miles.
The passengers, each wearing a life jacket, said they helped the injured pilot, Jerry Langford, 48, hold his head above water when he lost strength.
They were rescued about 60 miles off Cape Canaveral.