On Thursday afternoon, around 3 p.m., Frank McCutcheon Jr. transformed from pilot to hero.

Moments later, Carlos Portillo  made a similar journey from boater to hero.

While flying over the Androscoggin River with a visitor from California, McCutcheon noticed a man struggling in what appeared to be a sinking paddleboat near Gulf Island. No one else was around, and the boat was not in a position to be seen from the road.

McCutcheon called 911 and swiftly landed his floatplane to ask Portillo to help.

Portillo and his family were in the process of pulling their 16-foot speedboat — purchased earlier this week — out of the water. Portillo quickly put the boat back in and zipped out to the struggling man.

The family pulled the man into their boat and tied his paddleboat to their boat. As Portillo powered up to return to shore, the towrope snapped, clipping off his motor.

The family scrambled to the bow, pulling the rescued man with them, but the boat quickly sank and they all found themselves swimming in frigid water.

McCutcheon never left the scene, staying to be sure everyone was all right. He maneuvered his plane as close to the boats as he could, managing to grab Portillo’s 5-year-old daughter and pull her into his plane.

His passenger-turned-hero then jumped into the water to help Portillo guide everyone to shore.

While all this was going on, first responders — local volunteer firefighters, county deputies, game wardens and more — were rushing to the scene, scrambling to get rescue boats in the water.

Warden Dave Chabot called his friend Don Fortin to borrow a boat that was moored nearby. Fortin said yes. Another hero.

A man at the boat launch let Androscoggin County Chief Deputy William Gagne take his boat out to help. More heroes.

In the end, after dozens of people turned out to help, everyone made it to shore safely. It was a happy ending to what could have been a tragedy, thanks entirely to people who saw something wrong and scrambled to do something about it.

It’s been a week of recognizing heroes among us.

In Leeds on Thursday, students honored Game Warden Norm Lewis with the school’s first “Soaring Above the Rest” award for helping a little boy who got off the school bus to an empty house.

The first-grader had gone into the street to find someone with a phone to call his mother when Lewis — who was off duty — happened along. Lewis saw the child talking with a driver in a truck and was bothered by the situation, so he stopped. The truck moved on and Lewis stayed with the child until his parents arrived home about a half-hour later.

Lewis, who works with a search-and-rescue dog, has seen plenty of frightening situations in his professional life and did not hesitate to help. Call it instinct. And call it heroic.

And, in Norway on Thursday morning, Jaime Rodriquez of Minot and Nathaniel Krasny of Norway rescued 78-year-old Natalie Taylor from her burning car after it collided with a school bus. Both men had been running errands when they heard the crash, saw the flames and dashed in to help. Very heroic.

Earlier in the week, the American Red Cross in Central and Mid Coast Maine recognized a group of heroes, including Trevor Hanna of Oakland and John Dow of Eliot, who pulled a trapped 8-year-old boy from an overturned truck moments before it exploded in Sidney.

Also honored were Laura Rumpf of China, who has collected thousands of pints of blood in honor of her father; 11-year-old Ethan Reno of Bath, who called 911 while his mother fought off an intruder, giving police enough details to catch the man later that day; Laura Benedict of Augusta, who has hosted dozens of fundraising campaigns and benefit events at The Red Barn Restaurant; June Casler of Brunswick, who saved three residents of The Highlands from choking; and the crew of the just-finished first-in-class guided missile destroyer USS Zumwalt, which assisted with the rescue of a local fishing boat captain during its first sea trials off the coast of Maine.

These are extraordinary stories, and everyone deserves recognition, but being a hero doesn’t always have to be that dramatic. Day-to-day heroes are all around us, supporting our communities and improving people’s lives. Maybe even saving lives.

In Leeds, in preparation for Lewis’s visit, students made up signs with definitions of what they think a hero should be: helping others, standing up for someone who is disabled or being bullied, acting brave and kind, and having courage.

All true.

The heroes among us do not have super powers. They are people who notice something wrong and don’t hesitate to do something about it. Often, without fanfare.

Every day.

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