Two Florida senators got a look at damage from Hurricane Matthew damage from a very unique vantage point Saturday -- from high above onboard a U.S. Coast Guard HC-144 aircraft.
- Senators Nelson, Rubio invited on survey by Coast Guard Admiral
- 3-hour flight departed from Orlando
- Nelson: "We dodged a bullet."
Senators Bill Nelson and Marco Rubio conducted an aerial survey of Florida's east coast after Nelson said the Coast Guard admiral called and asked them to come along on a visual inspection.
Nelson, a former astronaut, says he was anxious to see Kennedy Space Center.
"I was very glad to see that there had not been the erosion from the beach onto the launch pads, the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station and then the two big launch pads at Kennedy Space Center," said Nelson.
The 3-hour flight departed from Orlando's Signature Flight Support. It was part of a Coast Guard process to assess damage in the wake of the storm.
"The worst is from above Marineland and the Matanzas Inlet northward -- that’s where the storm surge really eroded the beach and the bluff," said Nelson. "The long and short of it is, we dodged a bullet."