The Next Step in SAR


The first civilian helicopter rescue took place on Nov.


29, 1945,


according to the website “This Day in Aviation.” A Sikorsky R-5 equipped with an external rescue hoist was flown during a violent storm to Texaco Barge No. 397. The barge was breaking apart on Penfield Reef a mile offshore from Fairfield, Connecticut, putting the crew of Captain Joseph Pawlik and Steven Penninger in mortal danger.


While Sikorsky Chief Test Pilot Dmitry “Jimmy” Viner kept the R-5 hovering above, U.S. Army Air Forces Captain Jackson E. Beighle “raised the harness with Penninger to the cabin but could not pull him inside,” states the website. “Penninger hung on to Beighle while Viner flew the helicopter to the beach.”


Captain Pawlik was then rescued. “When Beighle attempted to raise the hoist it jammed, leaving Pawlik suspended 30 feet below the helicopter. Viner again returned to the shore and carefully lowered Pawlik to the sand.”


This rescue transformed SAR. Teaming is about to transform it again. The coming combination of helicopters, drones, and eVTOLs will exponentially expand the power of SAR operators to find, treat, and remove victims in speed and safety — and this future will arrive sooner than we think.


rotorcraftpro.com


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