Helicoptorial
Helicopters to the Rescue
|
This article is dedicated to those determined crews that help
save lives. These life-savers come in many varieties. There are Air
Ambulance services, Law Enforcement, National Guard, Active Military,
plus a plethora of civil operators who happen to be in the right place at
the right time. And of course lets not forget about those firefighters,
whether it's in LA county or USFS. The great job that these people do is
sometimes overlooked. If your life is ever saved by these crews, please
send them a thank-you card or take them to lunch or something. Yes, they
get paid for their job, but money isn't the only reason they do what they
do. The maneuvers these life-saving professionals perform are sometimes
more risky than what the people they save were doing.
|
The following are some of the types of helicopter operators that perform most of the rescues in the US. I tried to stay with generalities when describing them because each works a little different. If any of you would like to describe a specific operation in detail, please e-mail me and we'll post it (giving you credit of course).
AIR AMBULANCE
Air Ambulance services are becoming more widespread as helicopters become more affordable. They are growing in cities and rural areas. There are several services that provide excellent service. It would take me two pages to list all the carriers in the US, so I won't. Air Ambulance services are simply ambulances with rotor blades. They come equipped with medics or nurses to provide immediate first aid to victims. Some are based out of hospitals and others out of airports. These guys always know the nearest hospital since almost all have helicopter landing pads.
As a pilot for these services, you had better know your IFR procedures well because they often fly in some of the worst weather. (Often single pilot, too.) Having an ATP or CFI is very common for these pilots.
LAW ENFORCEMENT
Just about all law enforcement agencies seem to have helicopters nowadays. They use them mostly for surveillance but they are also used for quick reaction rescues. (A future article details an interview with the San Jose Police Department on their NOTAR.) The types of aircraft used vary tremendously throughout the country - anywhere from a Switzer 300 to Bell Jet Rangers and more. A lot of agencies even picked up excess aircraft from the military. (The Army provides law enforcement agencies access to their UH-1's and OH-58's.)
Pilots for these agencies usually need to be part of the agency first and then apply for their helicopter program. This ensures that the guy or gal in the air has a good understanding of what's happening on the ground.
NATIONAL GUARD
The National Guard has two parts - Air National Guard and Army National Guard. Both use helicopters for rescue. The National Guard is part of the US military and is supplied with military equipment. The Army Guard primarily uses UH-1's and UH-60's for search and rescues while the Air Guard has HH-60's and H-3's. These helicopters usually come equipped with hoists so the can rescue folks in extremely remote areas. A hoist is a cable that can be lowered from the aircraft, usually no more than 250 feet, to insert a medic and then extract the victim and medic. Hoists are very handy over water, in tree covered areas, mountain sides, or generally anywhere that the helicopter can not land close by.
Since the National Guard is part of the military, the pilots and crew are trained by the military. I say crew, because these aircraft go out with two pilots and at least one crewchief and medic. Some of the crews have spent time on active duty and others have only been in the National Guard. From what I've seen, for the most part, these are very professional crews that are good at what they do. They average probably about 3,000 hours and come from all walks of life. They are engineers, firemen, nurses, doctors, car salesmen, insurance salesmen, pilots for other companies or agencies, police, and more. When there's a rescue underway, they drop what they are doing on their full time job and get to work helping people.
ACTIVE MILITARY
Coast Guard, Air Force, Army, Navy and Marines each have helicopters designated for rescue. Except for the Coast Guard, they are primarily assigned to rescue individuals from their respective services, however there are areas where they work closely with the local civilians.
Pilots here attend the military flight training which can be up to a year long. Because of money issues, these pilots usually don't collect as much flight time as the civilians or their National Guard counterparts. They do however focus heavily on training to make best use of the available time. This focus on training makes the outcome of the actual execution of a task much more reliable.
IN CONCLUSION...
The helicopter has revolutionized rescue. Where it used to take days to hike out of a remote area, it now takes minutes to fly out. With hoist and rappelling capability, the helicopter doesn't even have to land. We can thank the US Military for funding the development of new technologies which make all this possible. Ingenuity driven by capitalism helped bring this stuff to you and me. (I had better be careful or I'll be singing the National Anthem next!)
Until Next time...
You can send your feedback and input to Chuck at chuckm@aero.com
Home