The deputies aboard Falcon 30, the Placer County Sheriff Office’s helicopter, were kept busy recently, rescuing a downed pilot, an injured hiker, and an entire family and their dog.

While water-rescue training near Folsom Lake Friday evening, crew members noticed a pilot flying a parachute ultra-light aircraft. A short time later, the sheriff’s helicopter pilot witnessed the aircraft crash into the water, in the middle of the lake. They immediately flew to the pilot’s rescue and were able to perform a hoist rescue. The Sacramento man was uninjured – and grateful that Falcon 30 was nearby to rescue him.

After 10 p.m. Saturday night, while on routine patrol in Placer County, the Falcon 30 crew was advised by Sacramento law enforcement officials of a rafting accident on the American River near “Gilligan’s Island.” After a brief search of the riverbanks, they located the family of four that had been stranded for two hours, trying to get medical help. Following a medical assessment, it was determined a 13-year-old boy needed medical assistance. The boy and his mother were transported to fire crews on the ground. A return trip was made for the father, another teenager, and the family dog.

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A body was recovered from Folsom Lake on Friday morning, possibly one of the four boaters killed on May 10 when a speedboat crashed.

The man’s body was spotted by a citizen who informed authorities about 9:50 a.m. The body, which has not been identified, was recovered by state park rangers and the El Dorado County Sheriff’s Department coroner.

The body was found near the mouth of the north fork American River.

After the discovery, a helicopter crew searched in the same area for the bodies of three other men who are presumed dead from the crash of the 32-foot Skater powerboat. The missing men are identified as Toby Strauch, 54, James Strauch, 47, Jake Jacobs, 53, and Jon Smith, 48, all of the Sacramento area.

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It’s a busy 24-hour, six-day a week operation near the Folsom Dam site, all of it with the goal to shield Sacramento from the worst that rainy weather might do.

FOX40′s cameras were the first to get into the construction pit for the dam’s auxiliary spillway since this first spillway gate arrived close to 11 p.m. on March 13.

That massive piece of equipment and the 12 other gates for the structure will have been driven 600 miles before they make it to their destination.

From the foundation to top of the control structure is about the same height as the Statue of Liberty.

Each bay will be able to funnel 55,000 cubic feet of water per second.

So what’s next for the very first gate to get on site?

“The roller housing, eight of of them, go on each side of the bulkhead gate and that basically goes down into the slot so it rolls up with the hoist mechanism at the top,” senior project manager Katie Huff said.

A crane even taller than the structure will slide that bulkhead into place in one of six bays at the spillway.

The room for error for this construction element is only a 16th of an inch on each side of its designated slot.

The straight bulkheads for this $900 million project will work in harmony with curved tainter to evenly regulate what could be the fateful force of a flood.

“These gates are 50-foot lower in elevation so in that flood event we’ll be able to release water much sooner and safer so that the levies downstream are able to handle it without flooding out Sacramento,” said Huff.

Part of the ground now up on top of the construction site, almost level with Folsom Lake Crossing, will actually start disappearing in July.

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The effort to find the bodies of four men presumed dead following a boat crash on Folsom Lake over the weekend continued Wednesday without success. Patrol boats will continue to troll the waters, but dive teams have suspended their search, said Folsom Lake superintendent Richard Preston.

Preston said authorities are uncertain of the exact location of the crash, complicating the recovery effort. The bodies of the men will surface at some point, he said, “but it’s hard to say when that might occur. It would be based upon the depth of where the bodies might be, and water temperature.”

Officials have identified the missing men as Toby Strauch, 54; his brother, James Strauch, 47; and friends Jake Jacobs, 53, and Jon Smith, 48. All were residents of the Sacramento area.

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A fourth man was on a speedboat that capsized in Folsom Lake on Saturday afternoon and is likely dead, authorities said, making the crash one of the deadliest in the lake’s history.

Efforts to find the men turned up nothing Sunday. Officials called off the search in the early afternoon because of high winds.

State Parks officials identified the men as Toby Strauch, 54; James Strauch, 47; Jake Jacobs, 53; and Jon Smith, 48. Authorities said that all lived in the Sacramento region but did not specify their hometowns.

Investigators aren’t sure what caused the accident. When park rangers arrived at about 1:45 p.m. Saturday, they found a 40-foot speedboat capsized. They’ve been searching for the men ever since. Determining the cause of the accident has been a secondary priority, said Folsom Lake State Recreation Area Superintendent Richard Preston.

Witnesses initially said three men were on the boat, but authorities later confirmed the boat had four passengers.

Officials now seek to recover, instead of rescue.

“This is probably the single most fatalities in my time doing this,” Preston said, who has worked at the lake more than 10 years.

Boating accidents happen frequently on Folsom Lake, but deaths are rare. About 30 accidents occurred in 2011 and 2012 at Folsom Lake, according to the latest state data, with 25 injuries and one death.

More than 25 rangers, emergency workers and divers scoured the lake for the men Sunday, the second consecutive day when wind hampered their efforts.

Whitecaps chopped the surface of Folsom Lake as teams struggled to hold their boats steady enough to search for the missing men. The craft used anchors weighing as much as 60 pounds, and were still unable to hold their positions.

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