Air Force rescuers pull female hiker to safety

  • Published
  • By Capt. Cathleen Snow
  • 920th Rescue Wing Public Affairs
From day until night, Senior Master Sgt. Mike Flake, a flight engineer on an Air Force rescue helicopter (HH-60G Pave Hawk), had been flying a training mission Dec. 22 around Tucson, Ariz. where his unit, the 305th Rescue Squadron here, trains regularly.

Upon clocking out, he was home by 9:30 p.m. enjoying family time when his daughter showed him a missed call on his cell phone. He dialed his voicemail and listened. It was Pima County Search and Rescue requesting his help.

"They told me a female hiker had fallen and they thought she had broken her leg and back," said Sergeant Flake. This set the "rotors" in motion to rescuing a 23-year-old woman from a ridge in the nearby Santa Catalina Mountains.

The largest of several ranges of hills that surround Tucson forming one of the largest 'sky islands' of south Arizona - hills that rise far above the Sonoran Desert plains and harbor climate zones typical of lands much further north.

Much of the hillsides are inaccessible, reached only by a few trails along canyons, and a sizeable part is an officially designated wilderness area, the Pusch Ridge, where the woman had been lying, injured, for hours.

Civilian rescue workers on the scene treated her, and secured her to a C-collar for a possible back injury, but high winds made the Department of Public Safety helicopter turn away, and darkness kept the civilian rescuers from carrying her back down to the Linda Vista trail head.

Familiar with the terrain, and just enough time left on his "crew clock," Sergeant Flake went back to work. Joining him were pilots, Lieutenant Colonel Paul Anderson and Capt. Anderson Kester, along with aerial gunner, Tech. Sgt. Josh Donnelly, to help guide the aircraft into the steep terrain.

Despite the winds, the Air Force combat-search-and-rescue unit, the 943rd Rescue Group, was equipped for the conditions. The only challenge they faced was that it was the end of the duty day and Air Force safety regulations prohibit them from operating aircraft without the proper crew rest.

Within work-rest limits, "We got to base and did a little mission planning," said combat-search-and-rescue pilot, Lieutenant Colonel Anderson, 943rd RQG.

"The mountain is close to 8,000 feet high. We plotted the coordinates and she (the hiker) was at 4,500 feet. We determined how much power we needed," said the Lieutenant Colonel. The higher you go the less power you have to hover because the air is thinner.

Although there was a slight cloud cover, "there was a big full moon. So I was glad about that," said Lieutenant Colonel Anderson. The more ambient light, the better night vision goggles work, he said.

They took off at 11:25 p.m. for a 5 minute flight (about 10 miles away) to the Pusch Ridge. The area was clearly marked by an infrared strobe, visible only to those wearing NVGs.

They did a few practice approaches to see what the winds were like and picked out a spot where they could lower the pararescueman (PJ), Senior Master Sgt. Michael Atkins, 48th Rescue Squadron, to the hiker.

"The winds were high, but we got underneath that turbulent air as we got closer to the mountain," said Lieutenant Colonel Anderson.

Sergeant Flake did the math and determined they were "too heavy" to hover at altitude. "We had to dump 2,500 lbs of gas just to go in there," said the pilot.

They flew in among the granite cliffs. "I hoisted the PJ down about 100 feet. It was pretty steep," said Sergeant Flake.

"Anytime it's dark and windy near the side of mountain, you can't get too low because of the clearance of the rotor blades. That's why we could only get down between 70-100 feet. No trees were sticking up, but it was really rocky," said Sergeant Flake.

The PJ unclipped and the chopper flew off. Sergeant Atkins rigged the patient's litter with cables. Fifteen minutes later the chopper was back and Sergeant Flake hoisted the litter carrying the patient who he said was completely covered in sleeping bag and blankets.

Her ordeal would soon be over. She had been dealing with the pain for more than five hours. "That's a long time to be strapped to a back board," said Sergeant Flake.

In a little over an hour the Airmen from the 943rd Rescue Group and the 48th RQS got the injured hiker out of the crevasse and to a nearby hospital.

"This is exactly what makes combat search and rescue the best mission in the Air Force. Not only is our wartime mission second to none as our Airmen save lives from the battlefields of Afghanistan, but as Reservists, they're making an impact right here in their local community. An Air Force rescue helicopter, and night-vision-goggle equipped crew, made all the difference," said Col. Harold Maxwell, 943rd Rescue Group Commander.

The 943rd RQG is part of the 920th Rescue Wing, a combat-search-and-rescue wing with 1,500 Airmen in a variety of capacities who support its mission of saving lives. It's one of the most-deployed Reserve units in the U.S.

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