TRAINING FOR SEARCH AND RESCUE


During a recent deployment to Dragon’s Peak, Rotor Pro joined training operations between the SAAF and the MCSA, a partnership that highlights the critical role helicopters play in mountain rescue.


The higher mountains of the Drakensberg range are vast, remote, and often inaccessible by ground. When lives are on the line, speed and vertical access are everything.


Here, helicopter crews train to: •


• •


stretcher options and techniques to manage the patient around the helicopter. A screamer suit is a harness that is utilized for certain patients, depending on their injury. Sometimes a jockey-rescuer accompanies the patient on the hoist to the helicopter. Helicopter trooping techniques are also essential, where the helicopter transports rescuers into the mountains and then departs, leaving the rescue team to perform their mission. Similar trooping occurs in Helitac firefighting operations, where crews are deployed rapidly via helicopter into areas that are difficult to access via road.


Insert rescue teams into near- vertical terrain


Execute stretcher hoists in confined mountain environments Conduct


extractions deteriorating weather


• Operate seamlessly with civilian rescue teams


Each operation starts with a full briefing prior to the exercise with all pilots, engineers, and rescuers attending. The various helicopter types utilize different


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If mountain flying is demanding by day, it becomes exponentially more complex at night.


NVG operations form a critical component of SAAF training. Flying through


narrow valleys with minimal in rapidly


These missions demand absolute precision—and total trust—between pilot, crew, and ground teams.


INTO THE NIGHT


visual references—often limited to scattered lights—requires intense focus and flawless crew coordination.


Landing on uneven, vegetation-covered slopes in darkness introduces additional risk. With the Oryx’s wheeled landing gear susceptible to instability, the flight engineer plays a pivotal role by:


• •


• • Monitoring power margins at altitude,


Identifying obstacles such as power lines,


Guiding the aircraft into tight landing zones,


Maintaining situational for emergency options. awareness


It’s a high-stakes environment where small errors can have serious consequences, but it’s also where elite crews refine their edge.


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