Rescue group Airmen pick up injured paraglider

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Luke Johnson
  • 943rd Rescue Group public affairs
DAVIS MONTHAN AIR FORCE BASE, Ariz. --  Southern Arizona Citizen Airmen from the 943rd Rescue Group chalked up another rescue within nine days late Friday May 31. The rescue team was taking part in a night vision goggle parachuting training exercise when the helicopter flight mission commander overheard a possible downed aircraft with injured people onboard.

"As the pararesucemen were jumping with NVGs out of the helicopter, I heard communications about a downed aircraft with an injured person onboard and another individual walking around the crash site," said Capt. Brent Watts, 305th Rescue Squadron HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopter pilot.

Watts immediately responded to let local rescue assets know he had a team in the area that had all of the necessary medical equipment and personnel onboard to assist.

He learned that the Life Flight response helicopter was unable to land at the crash site due to the steep plane of the terrain. He also found out that the aircraft was a paraglider.

"Once we were assigned the mission, we had to improvise with the medical gear that we had on hand because we were not going to waste time turning around," said Tech. Sgt. Richard Dunn, 306th Rescue Squadron pararescueman. "We loaded our medical gear and came up with a rescue plan in flight."

As the 943rd RQG rescue team arrived on scene in the Santa Rita Mountains, south of Tucson, Ariz., one of the survivors was in good condition, but the other had a broken leg and arm.

"The steep terrain forced us to crawl on our hands and knees in the dark to get to the victim; we had spent a lot more time on the ground than originally planned securing and treating the patient," said Dunn.

Once secured onboard the helicopter, they transported the crash victims to the University of Arizona medical center emergency room.

"The teamwork between the PJ's on the ground and the aircrew was phenomenal," said Dunn. "We planned the mission in flight, and once on the ground were able to improvise and overcome the challenges we faced on difficult mountainous terrain."

Airmen from 943rd RQG performed another rescue nine days earliers on  May 22 when they responded to, and airlifted an injured hiker from the Chiricahua National Monument.

"It was very rewarding to be part of this mission," said Dunn. "This mission motivated me to work harder and do my best during all of the long hours of training that we do as PJ's."

Watt's echoed Dunn's sentiments on how countless hours of training and preparing for every possible scenario has helped ensure a flawless rescue mission.

"We are the best equipped and trained search-and-rescue team in Southern Arizona, and it's really rewarding to be able to pull someone from a perilous situation and immediately evacuate them to get the care they need," said Watts.

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