HAI/DAN SWEET
FROM MISSION DRIVEN TO SAFETY DRIVEN continued
and say, ‘Here’s the scenario for the pilots and the air crew that don’t know what’s coming,’ and then we’ll announce it like it’s an actual search-and-rescue case. [When] the pilots come into the command center, [we say], ‘Here’s what you have. How are you going to do it?’ ” Being a sector with both aircraft and boats
provides additional resources for training. Crew on a station boat in the ocean pretending to be in distress is one example Knutson gives of a scenario that is used to help flight crews figure out what to do in bad weather in terms of instrument flying and everything else they need to consider.
The Mission: Be Flexible Mission focus can change at a moment’s notice.
A flight crew supporting a whale research project with marine biologists aboard, for example, could be assigned a rescue call. In most cases, the crew would return to base, drop off the biologists and refuel, then respond to the rescue. Flight crews are routinely briefed, however, to be prepared to drop passengers at the nearest safe location and conduct the rescue immediately depending on specific situations. While most Coast Guard rescue missions
are deemed successful because crews remove people from dangerous situations, missions can equally be deemed successful when the crew itself avoids danger. Flight crews routinely reassess the risk-to-reward ratio, particularly during missions under adverse conditions.
Avionics Electrical Technician First Class (AET1) Tim Gigliotti, a flight mechanic, recalls a night rescue at a point called God’s Tumb, near Lincoln City, Oregon. A pair of hikers got caught in a cove by high tides, and ground- based ropes crews were unable to assist from above. Te helicopter arrived on scene around 11 pm. According to Gigliotti, the winds were
unpredictable, there was a slight overcast layer, and there was no illumination. Tere are no homes or city lights on that part of the coast to provide reference points, so the pilots were using night-vision goggles (NVG). “So they’re on NVGs,” recalls Gigliotti. “And I’m trying to use our night sun to illuminate underneath us so I can see what we’re doing. But the night sun is blooming out the pilots’ NVGs. So we have to basically do this balancing act of, Who needs to be able to see?” Rescues from tides and cliffs are part of
regular training scenarios, and the helicopter crew attempted to follow proven procedures to complete the mission. “We tried to put the [rescue] swimmer down twice, and the pilots were having a hard time maintaining station because there were so few visual references,” says Gigliotti. “I’d get to swerve about 20 to 30 feet down, and we’d start to get a swing. I’d have them pull power to arrest the swing, and then we’d pull it back up and reset and discuss with the swimmer. After the second time, I said, ‘Why are we doing this? Tese guys are in no distress. There is no medical emergency.’ ” Tey dropped hypothermia bags and a radio
with a trail line and told the hikers the crew would return in the morning to get them out. “So we knew they were safe, and we were a phone call away if conditions changed,” says Gigliotti. Te next morning, however, the hikers were able to walk out after the tide ebbed.
With some of the only helicopters in Oregon equipped with hoists, Sector North Bend is often called to conduct missions around the state, including rescues from cliffs, forests, and mountains.
30 ROTOR DECEMBER 2022
Part of a Team Like all helicopter operations—military or commercial—the crew that flies the helicopter is just a small segment of the personnel required to keep the aircraft mission ready. As with other branches of the military, the Coast Guard’s command structure is seniority based, with the most experienced officers and senior petty
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