Two coastguard helicopter pilots flew down low to wave at a three-year-old boy on a beach in Los Angeles, looping back and circling twice so both men could greet him from the cockpit. The child was "beside himself with joy", his mother wrote in a first-person piece for the Guardian.
A reunion trip to the beach
The mother, who lives in Australia, had not seen her sister, who lives in Ukraine, for five years. They finally reunited during a trip to Los Angeles and took her three-year-old son to the beach for the afternoon.
During their catch-up, they talked about kindness. The mother told her sister how she had noticed a softer side to men since having a son, giving examples such as construction workers letting him play with their radio or beeping a tractor to make him laugh.
An unexpected gesture
As she shared this observation, a coastguard helicopter flew overhead. The boy adores helicopters, so the family waved as hard as possible as it passed.
Instead of continuing up the coast, the helicopter suddenly looped and came back around. It flew super low and circled twice, with both pilots waving at the boy and mouthing "Hi!" from the cockpit. It was so close it felt like it almost landed in front of them.
A memorable moment
Everyone at the beach was shocked, and many began filming. The sister burst into tears, and the boy was overjoyed. The mother described it as "simply, the coolest thing ever" and said it felt like an embodiment of what she had just told her sister about how good men can be.
After the helicopter flew away, the family was left with the memory of two pilots who saw a little kid and decided to do something to delight him, just because they could.
