Benóný Ásgrímsson is an Icelandic aviator. He served with the

Icelandic Coast Guard The Icelandic Coast Guard (, or simply ) is the Icelandic defence service responsible for search and rescue, maritime safety and security surveillance, national defense, and law enforcement. The Coast Guard maintains the Iceland Air Defence ...

for 50 years, including 38 years as a helicopter pilot from 1978 to 2016 where he participated in several high-profile rescue operations.

Coast guard career

He started his career with the Coast Guard at the age of 14 on board the ICGV ''Ægir'' but later moved to its helicopter division. In 1986, he participated in the rescue of two survivors of the Ljósufjöll air crash onboard TF-SIF. In 1997, he was the captained

TF-LÍF ''Líf'', also known as ''TF-LÍF'', is an Aérospatiale AS-332L1 Super Puma helicopter that served the Icelandic Coast Guard for 25-years. It is named after Líf, the only woman foretold to survive the events of Ragnarök from Norse mytholog ...

when its crew rescued 29 sailors in two incidents over a four-day period. On 5 March, 19 sailors from the cargo ship were rescued aboard TF-LÍF after the ship suffered engine failure and ran aground on the south coast of Iceland, east of

Þjórsá Þjórsá () is Iceland's longest river at . It is in the south of the island. Þjórsá is a glacier river and has its source on the glacier Hofsjökull. It flows out through narrow gorges in the highlands of Iceland. Further downstream, a ...

. One crewmember from washed overboard during the rescue operations and drowned. On 9 March, he again piloted TF-LÍF as its crew rescued 10 out of 12 crewmembers from the cargo ship ''Dísarfell'' after in sank south east of Hornafjörður. He officially retired from the Coast Guard on his 65th birthday on 30 September 2016.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Benony Asgrimsson Asgrimsson, Benony Asgrimsson, Benony Icelandic aviators