WWE’s Shane McMahon aboard chopper that lands in waters off Gilgo Beach, say cops

A chartered helicopter carrying professional wrestler Shane McMahon — son of WWE CEO Vince McMahon — and a pilot made an emergency landing Wednesday morning in the waters off Gilgo Beach, police said.

McMahon, whose mother, Linda McMahon, is head of the Small Business Administration in the Trump administration, and the pilot, identified as Mario Regtien, were not injured.

“The pilot just said he could tell something was wrong and immediately took procedures to do a controlled landing,” said Chief Boatswain’s Mate Justin Shackleford of the U.S. Coast Guard’s Fire Island station.

Suffolk County Assistant Police Commissioner Justin Meyers said the “small helicopter” landed about a half mile south of the beach and Suffolk, Nassau and NYPD authorities responded to the scene.

McMahon, known for surviving dangerous stunts as a wrestler, said during a news conference that the incident was “unsettling,” according to News 12 Long Island video.

I’d like to thank the man upstairs for looking out this morning thanks to pilot Mario, Suffolk Co. Marine Bureau Fire Island Coast Guard

— Shane McMahon (@shanemcmahon) July 19, 2017

“All of a sudden, you know, you have something happen and you hear a bang and then you start to say we’re going to do an emergency landing in the water,” McMahon, 47, said. “So, yes, it’s very unnerving, but again, Mario was super calm, which made me super calm, and we landed perfectly.”

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He later in a tweet thanked the pilot, the Suffolk Police Marine Bureau and the Coast Guard.

The Federal Aviation Administration said the Robinson R44 helicopter, which had departed from Westchester County Airport, wound up in the Atlantic Ocean about 10:25 a.m. and “emergency responders picked up the two people who were aboard and ferried them to shore.”

The FAA said in a statement that the pilot “issued a Mayday call prior to going into the water,” and that a commercial flight heading to Kennedy Airport heard the call and relayed it to controllers at the FAA radar facility in Westbury.

The company that owns the helicopter, Awesome Flight of Westchester County, confirmed in a prepared statement that it was a “controlled landing.”

Pilot Mario Regtien, left, and WWE wrestler Shane McMahon at the Coast Guard Station in West Islip after their small helicopter made an emergency landing on Wednesday, July 19, 2017. Photo Credit: James Carbone

Two lifeguards at Gilgo Beach said they were the first to reach the helicopter. Don Dobby and Zak Viverito went out in ocean kayaks to bring in the two men, they said.

Dobby said that he and other lifeguards were setting up the beach when they saw a helicopter “starting to hover low.”

Then “it went down pretty hard. We saw a big splash,” said Dobby, 31, of Amityville.

Viverito said that when they got to the helicopter, McMahon and Regtien, who were “very calm,” told them they had experienced engine failure. The lifeguards placed the men in the kayaks and had them row toward the shore with the lifeguards swimming behind, and the Coast Guard met them a few hundred yards out, Viverito said.

“Everyone worked really well together,” said Viverito, 28, of Babylon. “It’s kind of what we train for.”

When the lifeguards returned to shore, beachgoers applauded them, said Amanda Giordano and Jennifer Scalice, who had just arrived at the beach shortly after the helicopter went down.

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“My whole life coming here [this] has never happened before,” said Scalice, 26, of North Babylon.

Meyers said in a telephone interview that both men in the helicopter were wearing life jackets and that the Suffolk Police Marine Bureau got the two onto their vessel.

Meyers said the helicopter had flotation devices that were deployed, and it did not take on water.

Around 2 p.m., the helicopter was being towed by a local salvage company back to the Coast Guard station on Fire Island, the Coast Guard said.

With John Valenti

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Harley-Davidson CEO: Yes, Millennials Are Riding Motorcycles

Harley-Davidson (HOG) has a lot on its plate.

Shares of the motorcycle maker fell 5.9% to $48.93 on Tuesday after the company lowered its full year shipments guidance as the iconic American brand battles to gain a foothold with younger consumers.

The Milwaukee-based manufacturer now expects to ship between 241,000 and 246,000 vehicles in 2017, down from the 262,221 vehicles it shipped in 2016. The company had previously forecast that shipments would be “flat to down modestly” from the year before.

TheStreet talked with Harley-Davidson CEO Matt Levatich about the quarter and outlook for the rest of the year. What follows is a condensed and edited version of our conversation.

Question: In the quarter, what took you by surprise?

A. We expected it to be down, but it was much worse than we thought. In addition, sequentially through the quarter the trends were worsening. One of the things that we like is the year to date propping up of used-bike prices and stability in that market space, which accrues over to the new bike market.

We are pulling down shipment guidance to what we think U.S. demand will be. As we look forward, we are moving to shipment guidance with inventory significantly lower than 2016, setting up for a more healthy 2018.

Everything internationally is tracking according to plan.

Q. It’s said that millennials aren’t riding motorcycles, but I see them everywhere on bikes. Why are people wrong?

A. Number one, the ability to research this is difficult. There was an analyst report that referenced millennial ownership trends in new bike sales. You can’t just look at new bikes. The used bike marketplace has 2 1/2 times the turnover of the new bike marketplace. There are plenty of millennials riding motorcycles. It’s up to us to inspire them to ride and engage with Harley-Davidson.

As we look at an increased level of sophistication of our outreach, we look at psychological, life-stage and demographic trends to surgically grow riders, and Harley riders. We have to understand and meet customers where they are, whether they are millennials, Gen X, Gen Y, or babyboomers or generations yet to come. We have to shift from we build bikes to we build riders.

Q. Who is the motorcycle rider right now?

A. In general, 2.8% of adults ride motorcycles of any brand. It’s not as if it has mass market appeal to begin with. We have to find riders who are freedom- and adventure-seekers, who want to live for real, get out from under their smartphones and be out on the open road. 

Q. How do you get to the next level?

A. Product has a very important role in inspiring ridership, not just new, but ongoing ridership. For example, with the Milwaukee 8 engine and the new touring suspension, I am blown away by how much of a better experience that represents for me as a rider. Among the new models we launched this year, the Roadster special is a touring bike with packaging that is a more youth- and outreach-oriented. Street Rod is a global smash that is more financially and physically accessible.

As we look forward to 2018 and the model year launch, that’s what 100 new high-impact motorcycles in the next decade is all about. It’s about the impact we have and who is riding and thinking about riding.

Q: Can you comment on Harley-Davidson reportedly being interested in buying Ducatti?

A: It’s a rumor and speculation, we don’t comment on it. I went as far as I did on the earnings call today by saying there is a lot yet to be appropriately leveraged in the Harley-Davidson brand. We are firmly committed to the Harley-Davidson brand and to do the things we need to build ridership. 

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