Improvements in Transport, Tools, and Training Add Up To More LiVes Saved

Photos: Priority 1 Air Rescue

Since the first successful civilian heli- copter rescue November 29, 1945 few fundamental changes have occurred in the way basic search and rescue is conducted. There’s still a helicopter pilot, still some- one maneuvering the hoist with the res- cue “basket,” and either one or two rear crewmen aiding the victim and support- ing the operation. What has changed, es- pecially over the past 30-35 years, are the tools search and rescue specialists use. “Aircraft systems, navigation technol- ogy, hoist technology, and the reliability, serviceability, and capability of all of them have improved ‘hundreds-fold,” says Brian Johnson, Chief Crewman who, with his team of 37, fulfills search and res- cue contracts with the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) in the United

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Advanced Mission SAR Hoist Training with US Army – Hoists housed in the interior of an aircraft have the advantage of being out of the weather, protected from the environment. Internal hoists generally lift and transfer survivors into the cabin of an aircraft with little effort from the rescue specialist or hoist system operator.

www.ROTORCRAFTPRO.com • August 2009

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