2 Pilots Rescued After Separate Crashes: VIDEO

FORT MEADE, FL — The U.S. Coast Guard rescued two pilots Thursday after separate crashes in a swampy area of central Florida, including the pilot of a Polk County Sheriff's Office helicopter, according to the Coast Guard, Federal Aviation Administration and Polk County Sheriff's Office.

"An MH-60 Jayhawk aircrew was launched from Coast Guard Air Station Clearwater to hoist the two pilots out of the field they had crashed in," the Coast Guard said on Thursday night.

The pilots were identified as 52-year-old Polk County Deputy Lavon Hughes and 56-year-old Jeff Wright of Lutz, who was flying an AR-1 Gyrocopter. Both were taken to Tampa General Hospital, according to the Coast Guard and sheriff's office.

The sheriff's office said Hughes has been a pilot with the agency since July of 2007. He was flying a 1972 OH-58. The sheriff's office said Hughes was treated and released from the hospital but Wright was still there as of Friday morning.

"This was an extraordinary situation, and we're happy that both men were not seriously hurt," said Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd, who thanked the Coast Guard and other agencies that assisted in the rescue.

Coast Guard officials said they were notified at 3:27 p.m. that both pilots were alive but unreachable by land.

An FAA spokesperson told Patch that the sheriff's office helicopter was responding to an incident involving the gyrocopter when it experienced what the agency and Polk County Sheriff's Office described initially as a hard landing. The area was off Route 664 and Manley Road.

Brian Bruchey of the Polk County Sheriff's Office said both pilots were on Mosaic property.

"Both pilots are together on the ground and both are okay," said Bruchey. "The area where they are is extremely rural, wet and mucky."

Bruchey said the gyrocopter was reported down around 2 p.m. "The PCSO helicopter responded to the scene and upon arrival, the gyrocopter pilot was seen standing and waving," he said.

The pilot of the PCSO helicopter told fellow deputies that he was fine, but that he and the other pilot had gotten stuck in a pond of soft clay, according to Bruchey. The two pilots could not be reached by foot, boat, or all-terrain vehicles

Watch as the pilots are hoisted into an MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter: