Airplanes and helicopters are useful tools for search and recovery. I know, duh, right? Well, it turns out that they’re pretty useful for recovering rifles dropped into the ocean by occupants. In a recent video, a line of Brazilian surfers and beachgoers wait for a helicopter to hover above the water and recover a military or law enforcement weapon from the waves. 

A popular social media video shows a low-flying helicopter skimming the waves to recover a dropped rifle

In a video with around 100,000 views, a dark-liveried helicopter flies in low near the waves of a Brazilian beach. It kicks up wispy little surges of water under its rotor wash as it does so. Moreover, viewers can see uniformed personnel on the starboard side of the hovering chopper. 

A moment later, a swimmer comes into view beneath the chopper’s skids. The swimmer is holding what appears to be an AR15-platform rifle with an A2-style front sight post, a red dot sight, and a magnifier. It has a similar appearance to the popular Colt or FN M4 Carbine application used by many international military and police agencies. The swimmer, grabbing the weapon’s stock, thrusts it up out of the water and toward the aircraft.

A black-clad occupant with a visible tether reaches down and grabs the rifle’s barrel. The chopper passenger hoists the weapon into the aircraft and flashes a thumbs-up to the swimmer. Moments later, the helicopter noses down and gains altitude. Incidentally, the video shows the captivated surfers and boogie boarders exploding back into the waves after the all-clear.

Humorously, viewers had no shortage of jokes at the spectacle of the rifle recovery. Several comments compared recovering the tactical rifle out of the ocean to King Arthur pulling the legendary Excalibur from the “Lady of the Lake.”