Called out for a rescue northeast of TUS for a 16 yo climber who fell approximately 50' onto rocks below. 5 person crew of pilot, co-pilot, hoist operator/rescue technician 1, tactical team member, and hoist operator/rescue technician/EMT 2 (me). County sheriff helo was down for mx, and the state police helo didn't have a full crew, so it came to us.
Patient was critical with multiple severe injuries, requiring on scene treatment, packaging onto a spineboard and hoist extraction via stokes basket with the rescue tech/EMT as double-up rider for a 215' AGL hoist level due to surrounding terrain that the helo had to remain clear of in order to maintain an escape direction if needed.
All went well except for a mismanaged tag line to the stokes basket which wasn't kept taut and wasn't kept at a 45 degree or less angle for effectiveness, resulting in a spin on the way up as soon as the bottom of the rotor wash was reached. Luckily the hoist operator was able to counter the spins with cable manipulation that kept it from getting too bad, but the fairly confined space/terrain prevented normal techniques such as ditching the tag line and flying forward slowly to leave rotor wash behind the bird instead of underneath and allowing the load to stabilize, being unable to be utilized. The hoist operator just had to manage the situation himself. On my end, the ride was fairly wild as I was trying to signal the tag line guy to move away and make more angle as well as keep the line taut. Normally, of the ground person doesn't create that angle on the ground or is unable to on the ground such as being on a ledge, then the helo can normally slide over any direction to create that angle itself with the load to the ground, but in this case the terrain next to the helo didn't allow for that. And a higher hoist height wouldn't have helped as we had only 70' more cable available to maximum extension, and with a stokes basket, being as low as you can is best.....a longer length of hoist cable out makes managing the load at the end of the cable more and more difficult/challenging for the hoist operator, especially with a spin or a sway of the load.
7 minutes to the hospital. We don't normally transport patients to the hospital, we just normally do the rescue only via hoist or short haul ropes unless the situation dictates transport or no other means is available. Patient in this case was barely conscious and never alert or oriented, along with major injuries that were tough to treat, so direct to the hospital was an obvious choice.
Patient was critical with multiple severe injuries, requiring on scene treatment, packaging onto a spineboard and hoist extraction via stokes basket with the rescue tech/EMT as double-up rider for a 215' AGL hoist level due to surrounding terrain that the helo had to remain clear of in order to maintain an escape direction if needed.
All went well except for a mismanaged tag line to the stokes basket which wasn't kept taut and wasn't kept at a 45 degree or less angle for effectiveness, resulting in a spin on the way up as soon as the bottom of the rotor wash was reached. Luckily the hoist operator was able to counter the spins with cable manipulation that kept it from getting too bad, but the fairly confined space/terrain prevented normal techniques such as ditching the tag line and flying forward slowly to leave rotor wash behind the bird instead of underneath and allowing the load to stabilize, being unable to be utilized. The hoist operator just had to manage the situation himself. On my end, the ride was fairly wild as I was trying to signal the tag line guy to move away and make more angle as well as keep the line taut. Normally, of the ground person doesn't create that angle on the ground or is unable to on the ground such as being on a ledge, then the helo can normally slide over any direction to create that angle itself with the load to the ground, but in this case the terrain next to the helo didn't allow for that. And a higher hoist height wouldn't have helped as we had only 70' more cable available to maximum extension, and with a stokes basket, being as low as you can is best.....a longer length of hoist cable out makes managing the load at the end of the cable more and more difficult/challenging for the hoist operator, especially with a spin or a sway of the load.
7 minutes to the hospital. We don't normally transport patients to the hospital, we just normally do the rescue only via hoist or short haul ropes unless the situation dictates transport or no other means is available. Patient in this case was barely conscious and never alert or oriented, along with major injuries that were tough to treat, so direct to the hospital was an obvious choice.
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As much as I liked being a crewmember, I would much rather be up front.
(lightly NSFW)