Kylle Fenton is an Air Crew Officer (ACO) involved in air rescue and ambulance operations supporting NSW, Australia communities. He is more accustomed to being the one to bring the resources, rescue and safety to others in “the worst day of their life”. In this episode Kylle tells a gripping story of when he and his family needed that rescue support returned during the flooding of the Township of Eugowra in Nov 2022.
This episode is being pushed out the door half cooked so that you can hear it sooner. Please forgive any short comings in the polish.
Before Kylle was part of the HEMS world he had years of experience as a Blackhawk loadmaster in the Australian Army with time in special operations and as a loadmaster instructor. We discuss this career path and the many, many tasks that a loadmaster can find themselves doing.
Important – please look at the link below to the GoFundMe page for the Fenton family discussed in the podcast episode.
The township of Eugowra NSW has suffered a very major and overwhelming flood catastrophe earlier this week. pic.twitter.com/cprEaWDccZ
James Koens is a Check and Training Aircrew Officer on very expensive rescue/aeromedical helicopters. He also finds time to be a helicopter charter pilot, Army Reserve aircrewman, volunteer rural firefighter and a podcast host.
This episode is being pushed out the door half cooked so that you can hear it sooner. Please forgive any short comings in the polish.
In this episode James talks about some of the challenges of operating complex missions in the world of helicopter rescue and ambulance services. We then change track and discuss what James has learnt from ferrying small helicopters across remote parts of Australia.
Important – please look at the link below to the GoFundMe page for the Fenton family discussed in the podcast episode.
4300Kms, 30hrs, 16 fuel stops, a Robinson R22, and a whole lot of nothingness – From James’ LinkedIn post comment
Rob Munday and David Callen have extensive experience in helicopter rescue and hoist operations. They provide training through the company SR3 Rescue Concepts.
Hoist operations open up a wide range of additional roles for helicopters. They allow us to get people and equipment into and out of locations which would otherwise be inaccessible or too dangerous to land. Rob Munday and David Callen from SR3 Rescue Concepts help talk us through some of the considerations.
The helicopter industry is so diverse that there will be aircrew that go their entire careers with conducting hoist operations and others where it is a regular activity.
This is a longer episode at over 90mins and provides a very good primer to anyone that has never worked with a helicopter hoist.
Hoisting does take time and exposes the helicopter, crew and people being hoisted to some level of risk. If there is the opportunity to land the helicopter then that is normally going to be the preference.
Examples of scenarios where a hoist is employed:
Water rescues
Transferring marine pilots to ships where the deck cannot support the weight of the helicopter or rigging is in the way
Lowering people or equipment through trees
Complex landing areas where obstacles or slope mean that a helicopter can not get low enough to land a skid or wheel
Offshore wind turbine maintenance
Powerline access
Dynamic Rollout is a term that we cover in the podcast. It relates to the ability for some D-shackles to interact with a hook such that they roll up and out of the hook gate allowing the person or load on the hoist to fall free. The video below explains in more detail. It has been the cause of a number of deaths and is believed to be what happened in the incident that lead to David Vanbuskirk losing his life while conducting a night mountain rescue in the US. A tribute video to David is at the end of this blog post.
SR3 Rescue Concepts website. Find out more about the company and the courses they deliver.
Have a comment or feedback about Episode 77? Have a particular question about helicopter hoist operations for Rob or Dave? Be part of the conversation by leaving a comment below.
Mark Turner was a rescue wireman during the 2011 Brisbane Floods
“On 9th and 10th of January 2011, heavy rainfall caused flash flooding to occur across parts of Queensland resulting in widespread damage to property and 35 fatalities. Grantham, Lockyer Valley and Toowoomba were severely impacted. Due to landslides caused by flooding, and water blocking the Warrego highway, the Lockyer Valley became isolated; police and emergency services were no longer able to access the area. Excessive fog and rain prevented helicopters flying overhead during the emergency.”
“Emergency services were overwhelmed during the disaster. Triple zero operators advised people to stay indoors to avoid being swept away.
… on a typical Monday the 000 line in Toowoomba receives about 60 calls, on this day 883 such calls were received.” – Source
Mark Turner on one of the 28 rescues conducted by his crew over 2 hours on 10 Jan 2018
Despite what the extract above says helicopters did indeed fly in extremely poor weather and conducted a large number of rescues off house roofs and emergency evacuations of towns in the way of the flooding.
In this episode we hear from 3 of the aircrew involved and the different perspectives of each of their crews as the emergency unfolded.
Mark Turner was the rescue wireman in the Queensland Government AW139 Callsign Rescue 500 which was the first rescue machine on the scene in the afternoon of 10 January at the township of Grantham. “Horrendous” weather forced them to scud run at low level to reach the town they were greeted by streets awash with fast running flood waters and residents stranded on roof tops. Over 2 hours of hoisting operations 28 people and a cat were rescued and moved to dry land.
Next on the scene was Rescue 510, another AW139 with Brett Knowles onboard as a crewman. They relieved the Rescue 500 crew who landed with minimal fuel reserves. Brett’s crew then continued into the late afternoon and evening conducting winch operations by searchlight unaided. Another 15 people were rescued.
The next morning 2 Blackhawks departed Oakey to the west of the area under IFR conditions and managed to break visual near Amberley Air Force Base. Nathan Coyle was the Captain of the second Blackhawk and he talks about the experiences of his crew on the 2nd day including a harrowing rescue conducted on NVGs next to a live powerline.
All their operations would have been pretty heroic on any normal day but the weather they were operating in deserves special mention. The graph below shows rainfall on the days in question with many places receiving all time record breaking amounts. The videos below give some additional indication of the conditions encountered.
“I have been flying for 12 years and that’s the worst I have seen it – terrible visibility and for the pilots it was incredibly hard to navigate” – WO2 Tony Young
The pilots had to rely on their personal phones and Google maps to navigate in a number of cases due to the flood waters obscuring roads and landmarks.
MAJ Nathan Coyle was Aircraft Captain of a Blackhawk responding to the flood event.
Brett Knowles (second from right) with members of Emergency Management Queensland helicopter crew. Centre is Peter Row who was Brett’s pilot during the flood event.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVJ5eG8C08I
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fziBzOZO3Dk
Mark Turner at rear. Several survivors in front of the Rescue 500 helicopter that was first on the scene in Gratham.
Army Blackhawk crews with Prime Minister Julia Gillard
SeaKing in rain at Gatton on 11 Jan 2011
Do you have a question for Mark, Brett or Nathan? Were you flying during the flooding and want to share your experiences? Be part of the conversation by leaving a comment below.
HRT’s UH-1 helicopter at 8,000 feet and litter with patient on the wire after a 500ft fall on mountain side.
Nestled in the north west corner of the US, just north of Seattle is Snohomish County and the operating base of their Helicopter Rescue Team. The HRT conducts approximately 80 rescues a year, predominantly mountain rescues of hikers. Two of their team, Chris Moriarty and Bill Quistorf, took the time out for a chat about their setup, the operating area and its challenges and the skill sets within the organisation.
The Snohomish County Helicopter Rescue Team operates 2 helicopters.
SnoHawk 10 is a highly modified Vietnam era Bell UH-1H – Fast Fin and tailboom strake kit, Bell 205 tail boom, Bell 212 Tail rotor/gearboxes, more powerful Lycoming T53-L703, Garmin G500H’s, NVG-compatible cockpit – which is the main workhorse for rescue missions and training. It is a beautiful looking ship. A typical mission would include 5 crew and a range of role equipment operating up to 9000′ elevation. Depending on the nature of the site and casualties the crew may have to offload people and equipment and/or burn fuel for sufficient power margin.
Chris Moriarty is a Rescue Technician (or Tech) with HRT. And Bill Quistorf is the organisation Chief Pilot.
SnoHawk 1 is a Hughes 500-P (military NOH-6P) which flew in Vietnam with Alpha Troop, 3/17 Air Cavalry. It was a specially modified machine for covert CIA/Air America style missions with 4 bladed tail-rotor, an extra main rotor blade and (now removed) oversized engine exhaust muffler. SnoHawk 1 can provide law enforcement and missing persons support. It was used to fly more regular police patrols but budget reductions have curtailed the flying hours possible.
The HRT team itself is unusual in that it consists of only a few full time salaried members and then a pool of approximately 30 volunteers who man a roster. Skill sets of the volunteers include rescue technicians, flight medics, crew chiefs, pilots, and ground support personnel. These people have their own separate day jobs and interests that then come together to form the capability. On any particular day when the HRT is activated the rostered on team members will meet at the ‘Taylor’s Landing’ base and assess the callout mission.
Team training is conducted twice a week. A number of other agencies also use the base facility for training and there is a tower mounted Huey frame avaliable for rappelling drills.
Mountain rescue makes up most of the HRT callouts. Note the cloud ceiling on the hills in background.
Andrew Gutsell is a New Zealander who is part of the Alpine Rescue Service in the Everest region.
The elevation of the Himalayan mountains puts them at the extreme of human and helicopter performance. For climbers it can be a 2 week trek out or a 30 min helicopter flight to safety if they find themselves in trouble.
Andrew Gutsell is part of the Alpine Rescue Service run by Air Dynasty that services the region around Mt Everest. The team bases out of Lukla Airport (9,300ft) in order to maintain high altitude acclimatization and consists of a handful of aircrew, doctors, paramedics or nurses at any time. From here the service uses AS350B3 (H125) helicopters to reach Basecamp, the small camps higher up on Mt Everest and villages in the area.
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Supplementary oxygen is standard mission equipment with flights right up to the 23,000ft legal limit for the aircraft. For some patient pickups the avaliable performance limits the number of people on board to just the pilot to allow for the weight of the climber. For rescues above this height a team of sherpas will have to recover the patient and bring them down to lower altitudes.
[Tweet “These are big boy mountains! #helicopter #nepal #rescue”]
At the higher camps the helicopters are always kept running rather than shutdown and risk any complications starting in the thin air. Any helicopter that gets stuck up there is unlikely to ever be recovered as there is nothing with the lift capacity at those altitudes to recover it.
Highest KFC? Helicopter Safety Briefing at Everest Base Camp 17000
Weather is also a significant constraint on operations. Flights are mainly done in the morning when the katabatic or downslope winds are smoother. Flying after 2pm is avoided to reduce the chance of being stuck in the mountains with fading light.
Andrew is a New Zealand pilot that started out flying in the mountains of New Zealand and operating to the south island glaciers. He is one of a handful of ex-pat pilots flying in Nepal. In this episode Andrew talks about the environment that you can expect to find in the Everest region and the challenges to operating a helicopter rescue service there.
Andrew and two other New Zealand Alpine Rescue Service team members, Andrew Roy (Paramedic) and Alyssa Lowe (Nurse) have just been awarded the Royal Humane Society (of NZ) Silver Medal for Rescue Services after their actions as first responders at a May 2017 aircraft crash at Lukla airstrip (video at the bottom of this page). The pilot died on impact, the co-pilot later that night and the hostess was flown out to Kathmandu in the morning when the weather cleared. The New Zealand Governor-General will present the awards at Government House, Wellington some time in mid 2018.
The Air Dynasty team and Andrew are featured in the TV series Everest Air.
Kongde Everest Mountain Flight breakfast location. View of Everest, Lhotse, Ama Dablam.
Andrew and Phunaru Sherpa of International Mountain Guides acclimatising pre Rescue Season. Solokhumbu region.
Oxygen system & looking like Heli Stig.
Injured climber rescue at 17000′
Some of the Air Dynasty Lukla team. Ashish Sundash (ops), Cpt Andrew Gutsell, Padma Lama (Lukla Ops Manager), Paramedic Andrew Roy and Nurse Alyssa Lowe. Proudly flying the NZ flag to represent the historical relationship between NZ and Nepal.
Flat light on Rescue ops at 22500″pa. Note Reference markers.
Lukla Airport, Nepal. One way airstrip! Photo credit: coldfeetadventure.com
Google Street View of Lukla Airport
2017 Aircraft crash at Lukla airfield where Andrew and co-workers were involved in first response.
Do you have a question for Andrew about flying ops in Nepal or about something mentioned in the episode that you want to ask? Be part of the conversation by leaving a comment below.
John is the UK military’s chief instructor in Land, Sea and Extreme Environment Survival. In this episode he talks about the priorities of survival should you find yourself forced to land in a remote location.
How much attention do you pay to what you wear or carry on you when you go flying? For some of us our organisation or company might mandate what equipment is carried – and that can start to add up, personal location beacon, knife, pocket flares, first aid kit, mirror, pistol, HEEDs bottle, whistle etc if you are military.
For many of us though it’s a wallet, keys and mobile phone. This episode will challenge you to think about what you will do if you get forced down due to weather or mechanical problem in a remote area and need to wait for rescue or recovery.
[Tweet “Most important thing is to have a good #rescue beacon with you. #helicopter”]
John takes us through the key elements of survival and how that relates to helicopter aircrew. As an ex-Puma pilot and now someone that trains UK military personnel including aircrew on survival John is able to talk about specifics such as using parts of the aircraft to help out.
I probably wouldn’t have thought of using the aircraft battery to help getting a fire going for example. Another key lesson is don’t go anywhere without a 406Mhz beacon.
[Tweet “Stay with the airframe if you can. Much bigger footprint for search teams.”]
In this week’s episode:
01:43 John Hudson bio
03:20 Sergey Ananov rescue in the Arctic Circle Jul 2015
05:33 RAF helicopter training – Puma
06:40 Full time role as Defence survival instructor
08:35 Overseeing the training of other survival instructors
09:40 SERE (Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape)
11:30 Extreme survival environment training – deep snow, jungle
15:14 ‘Dude you’re screwed’ TV series on Discovery channel
18:16 Camera operators on the show while ‘surviving’
21:15 Training around the world for groups
23:00 Mental preparedness is a key factor
25:00 Make a cup of tea, allows time to think, glucose, heat to boil water
26:30 Muscle memory training – fire on start, aircraft evacuation, emergency briefing
29:50 Protection, Location, Water, Food
30:30 Protection – first aid, clothing, shelter, fire (fire first in cold environment)
34:46 Location – 121.5MHz no longer satellite monitored, want a 406MHz beacon, big ground signals, flightplan before you go
39:10 Water – limiting factor in longer survival, must be clean but…. , ‘big bubbles, no troubles’, methods of sterilization
41:30 Food – glucose type sweets don’t require water to process
42:35 Practical equipment to take flying, cutting tool, grab bag, signal mirror, compass on your watch strap
46:30 Resources you can repurpose from airframe – radios if they still work, battery to start a fire, tires for black signal smoke, insulation fabric, fuel for fire and cooking, piping/ducting to carry or store water
50:30 Leadership and passengers – 75% chance that any individual will be stunned and bewildered. Panic is not that common but contagious. Give them tasks to keep busy.
55:10 Books – South: Sir Ernest Shackleton, Antarctic survival story from early 1900s, When I Fell From The Sky, Juliane Koepcke, survived 10,000’ fall into jungle, Royal Marines Survival Handbook by Colin Towell
58:40 Top take away ideas from the interview
1:00:00 Episode Sponsors trainmorepilots.com
Snippet from a Dude You’re Screwed episode – John making a cup of tea
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John training in the snow with UK military
[Tweet “Make a cup of tea, allows time to think, glucose, heat to boil water @jhsurvival”]
[Tweet “Survival is not one huge task, it’s a series of little tasks”]
Got a question for John that we didn’t cover in the episode or a survival tip? Continue the conversation in the comments below.
