Raging floodwaters had already chewed through roads and turned the town of Drake, Colo., into a patchwork of islands as CenturyLink’s aviation team scanned Big Thompson Canyon for damage to the company’s fiber-optic lines this past September. Arriving on the scene before even the National Guard, helicopter pilot Jim Bohman (above, left, with Mike Centola) and his aviation teammates proved to be a lifeline for stranded residents, including two elderly persons in desperate need of oxygen supplies. (A neighbor of theirs, smartly, had painted “Need O2” on a rooftop.) In all, CenturyLink’s two helicopter crews ferried 16 people and 10 pets to safety that day.