Rescue Flight saves stranded camper

FAIRCHILD AIR FORCE BASE, Wash. – Capt. Cameron Clement, physician’s assistant with the 336th Training Support Squadron here, administers medical aid in a UH-1N Huey helicopter Sept. 18 to a 39-year-old man who had been stranded in the Cascade Mountains since Sept. 12. Captain Clement was part of a five-man team dispatched from Fairchild to evacuate the wounded man to a waiting ambulance. “We’ve got a great bunch of professionals flying here,” said Col. Scott Greene, 336th Training Support Group commander in praise of the crewmembers. “These guys performed outstandingly; I’m really proud of them.” (U.S. Air Force photo / Senior Airman Jacob Bragg)

Rescue Flight saves stranded camper

FAIRCHILD AIR FORCE BASE, Wash. – A five-man rescue team dispatched in a Uh-1N Huey helicopter from the 36th Rescue Flight here save a stranded man near Mount Daniel, Wash., in the Cascade Mountain Range. The evacuation point was about 140 nautical miles west of Fairchild, and though the landing was “a little tighter than we usually go into,” according to co-pilot Capt. Chris Johnson, the crew successfully teamed with the Kings County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue Team from Seattle, Wash., to evacuate the victim to an ambulance headed for Central Washington Hospital in Wenatchee, Wash. (U.S. Air Force photo / Senior Airman Jacob Bragg)

Rescue Flight saves stranded camper

Published Sept. 25, 2008
By Staff Sgt. Connie L. Bias
92nd Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs

FAIRCHILD AIR FORCE BASE, Wash. -- One more save, and they'll have 630 under their belts ... an impressive number when it comes to saving lives. Last week, a five-man crew made save number 629 in a UH-1N Huey helicopter dispatched from the 36th Rescue Flight here.

The victim, a 39-year-old camper, was sick and stranded in the middle of the Alpine Lakes Wilderness in the Cascade Mountains. The man had been camping since Sept. 12, but began suffering flu-like symptoms Sept. 15 and was unable to eat, drink or sit up, making the 10-hour hike to the nearest road impossible. By Tuesday, he was calling for help with a whistle he had packed. Another hiking group found him and reported his information, location and condition to local authorities.

Leading the rescue effort, the Kings County Sheriff's department from Seattle, Wash., sent in a crew on foot to assess the man, load him onto a stokes litter and start IV fluids. The crew needed helicopter assistance to transport the ill man, though, and assets from Seattle were fogged in - they couldn't take off.

That's where the 36th RQF came into the picture. At 4 p.m. Sept. 18, a Rescue Flight crew took off from the base.

"It was about an hour-and-a half flight from Fairchild to the area," said Capt. Chris Johnson, co-pilot. "When we got there we received radio calls from the ground crew telling us we had just flown over the area; we had good communication getting us to the scene."

Though the landing was "a little tighter than we usually go in," said Captain Johnson, it was within the crew's capabilities and pilot Capt. Magdelana Painter landed the Huey.

"From there, everything went swimmingly," said Senior Airman Jacob Bragg, 36th RQF flight engineer. "For that, I'd really like to commend the Kings County Search and Rescue Crew; they did an incredible job. When we landed, they were completely ready to put the guy on the helicopter. I've never seen that. They had him packaged up [on a stokes litter] and an IV started. They just set him on the helicopter and we acted as a platform."

The Rescue Flight was then up and running, heading toward an ambulance that delivered the patient to Central Washington Hospital in Wenatchee, Wash. The flying crew, which also included Capt. Cameron Clement, physician's assistant with the 336th Training Support Squadron; and Larry Jaynes, crew chief from Sikorsky Support Services Inc., was back at Fairchild at 9 p.m.

"It was about five hours total, and it was one of the smoothest rescues I've been on; everything went as it should have," said Captain Johnson. "We train to do this, and it's nice to get called out to do something meaningful, to make an impact in the local community."