knew the Americans would come, and he never gave up the will to survive. Taranov was thrilled to be in that aircraft.” Meanwhile, it was time for a rendezvous
with another tanker, an MC-130 from Patrick Air Force Base, and another refueling. “Te good news is that we now had a full bag of gas,” says Baur. “Te bad news is that once we’d finished, the pilot radioed that he was bingo fuel, abruptly sucking up his hoses and leaving us in the middle of the Atlantic.” Tey were maybe 800 miles out to sea with four hours and 20 minutes of fuel and hundreds of miles from the original pickup location. Tey required a lot more fuel to get back to Halifax, and they had but a single HF radio link to civilization. Baur got on 5696 and radioed the Marine
he’d spoken to back in Halifax. “I need you, and I need you now. Given our position, we’ll need more tankers and fuel to reach Halifax.” Time passed. Tere was another discussion: should the Pave Hawks remain there as the on-scene commander, or head north to Halifax with Taranov, who needed medical care? He was hypothermic after being in the ocean for two days. An HC-130 crew from Baur’s squadron were on their way, eventually reaching the 60s and providing them with fuel and support before the sun went down. Ten, the previous MC-130 tanker returned. “I thought you guys were bingo fuel,” radioed Baur. “Oh, we figured out we had more fuel, so
we want to search for the rafts for survivors,” replied the pilot. Time passed. Te crews meticulously searched each of the bobbing, empty black life rafts deployed by the various fixed-wing rescue assets over the past few days. “You know, there’s no gold nugget out here,”
Baur radioed back. “We got one guy in need of medical attention. Te other bodies we saw were consumed by sharks; they’re, uh … deceased. Tere are no more survivors; it’s time to go.” Baur was adamant on that point. He knew
they couldn’t stay out indefinitely. Tey still had to reach Halifax from the middle of the Atlantic. “Tis wasn’t some refueling exercise we were doing off the coast of Long Island.” Tey needed four tankers because the tankers needed fuel to get to them, plus fuel to give them fuel, and fuel to get themselves back to
base. Te mission would require 10 mid-air refueling operations for the Pave Hawks. Finally, everyone agreed. It was time to head
back. Once again, the MC-130 declared bingo fuel and departed. Te 60 crews had benefited from a tremendous tailwind coming to the search, which meant flying into a vicious headwind while returning to Halifax. At twilight, a second Marine KC-130 joined
the HC-130 on Baur’s wing. Freshly fueled with just enough to reach Halifax, Baur decided to take a break and asked Fleming to fly. He’d had nothing to eat or drink since departing Halifax that morning. “I remember opening up this amazing RCAF box lunch containing a bottle of orange juice. As I drank it, I could suddenly see in high-def color. My vision had slowly pixilated into a monochromatic noise.” Baur hadn’t realized how much the flight
had depleted his blood-sugar levels. In addition, he’d been manually flying for 12 hours weighted down with his survival suit and gear in a heli- copter the Army had designed for two-hour
missions that lacked both automation and comfort. He donned his NVG and took control of the aircraft again.
Betting the Farm Tey were 327 miles from Halifax when a storm hit them like a brick wall. Tey switched to IMC and broke formation. Te Pave Hawks were picking up ice again. Baur’s 60 had a blade-deicing system, but it often failed, as it did now. He remembered an old deicing tactic from his Coast Guard days: fly close to the water’s surface and use the salt spray to combat the ice. “We were getting pounded,” Baur says. “Tere were times when I was moving up and down at something like 500 ft. a minute. I tried to climb, but that didn’t work. We were all over the place.” Buschor radioed. “Hey, Chris. What’s your
heading?” “It really depends on when you ask,” Baur
replied. Te nose of the aircraft was shifting wildly, 45 degrees to either side of the direction
Freedom Aero Service Inc. is an established FAA/EASA repair station. MARCH 2021 ROTOR 35
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