When the 54-foot catamaran Magic Bus began taking on water in a violent storm about 260 nautical miles off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, on November 6, 2025, the five men aboard were in serious trouble. Skipper Buster Pike tried to raise the U.S. Coast Guard on the boat's VHF radio, but the call did not get through, and with no SSB radio on board, the crew needed another way out. Pike and a crew member then used their mobile phones through a Starlink Mini terminal, and according to Pike's account, he was connected to the Coast Guard's Atlantic operations desk within a minute. With the boat flooding fast and rolling dangerously in gale conditions, all five men abandoned ship into their liferaft.

The Coast Guard launched a massive response, sending a cutter, an HC-130 Hercules aircraft, and an MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter from Air Station Elizabeth City. The Hercules crew found the raft with all five men aboard and confirmed they were stable, while the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush provided fuel for the helicopter because the rescue site was so far from shore. The Jayhawk crew then recovered everyone from the raft in rough seas, flying all five survivors back to Elizabeth City in good health, with no injuries reported. The entire operation lasted roughly eight hours, and the Magic Bus itself was lost, but the story has become a powerful reminder of how satellite internet can serve as a vital backup when traditional marine radios fail far from land.