They were ready to land in Australia , at the end of a 14-hour international flight , when the 270 passengers of an Air Canada flight were suddenly thrown into a high-seas search-and-rescue operation . Flight AC033 diverted after pilot Andrew Robertson got a call from the Australian Maritime Safety Authority on Tuesday to help search for a yachtsman who had sailed from Sydney two weeks earlier . `` If we have the fuel , could we investigate an emergency beacon that had just gone off , '' came the question from maritime officials , Robertson told CNN Canadian affiliate CBC News . Down below , Glenn Ey of Queensland , Australia , was being tossed about in his crippled 36-foot yacht -- out of fuel and with a broken mast after a storm . `` I thought I had a very good chance of getting back to Sydney without assistance , '' Ey said after nine days adrift . `` I could n't see any evidence of Sydney , and I had no idea of my exact position , and it was at that point I set off the emergency position indicator radio beacon . '' The search began as the Boeing 777 , on its way from Vancouver , dropped from 37,000 feet to 4,000 feet . Robertson asked the passengers and crew to train their eyes on the choppy waters below . `` I think everyone 's heart started beating a little bit faster , '' said Jill Barber , a Canadian singer , who was making the trip to Sydney for a concert . `` They said ... we 'd really appreciate it if everyone could look out their windows , and if anyone has any binoculars that could help us identify this yacht , that would be really helpful . '' It did n't take too long to find Ey as passengers and crew scanned the waters below . `` We 're doing this big sweeping right turn and almost immediately they said , 'Oh , we see something , ' `` Robertson said . `` We were totally ecstatic . '' Total from time from activation of the emergency beacon until he was found by the Air Canada flight : about 25 minutes . `` You know , we cheered and we applauded and I think we all kind of felt a sense of pride , '' Barber said . A merchant vessel helped the yacht until the New South Wales water police arrived from Sydney late Wednesday , about 270 nautical miles off the coast . Truck hits plane , driver blames beverage can . Flier 's alleged 50-day bender ends badly .
A yacht -- adrift for Tuesday , out of fuel and with a broken mast -- activated its emergency signal . Maritime officials called an Boeing flight bound for Queensland for help . The Air Canada 777 passengers and crew searched , and the vessel was found within late Wednesday .