It took three aircraft, two helicopters and a jet-powered fixed wing plane, to locate and extract a man in the Bob Marshall Wilderness in Montana on Wednesday. The man was not feeling well and used a GPS-enabled personal locator beacon to send a distress call. The first helicopter, unsure exactly where the man was, landed near some hunters to ask if they knew where the man might be. Upon trying to take off, it would not start. A MercyFlight jet was dispatched to look for the helicopter, which apparently could not communicate from the remote area, and located it. The problem was diagnosed by radio as a starter generator issue.
A second helicopter was dispatched which found the man in distress, off loaded two crew members, then transported the man with the medical problem to a hospital. From there it took a mechanic with the needed parts to the broken helicopter, then picked up the two crew members and the man’s dog and flew back to their base. The broken helicopter was repaired and flew back home safely.
The first helicopter was a MercyFlight EuroCopter 135 P2. The second was the Two Bear Air Bell 429, which is funded by Whitefish, MT philanthropist Mike Goguen who supports all costs of the operation with zero cost to taxpayers, with the mission of ultimately saving lives.
In 2012 we first wrote about Two Bear Air, which was initially called Flathead Emergency Aviation Resources (FEAR).
More details about the rescue are at dailyinterlake.
9 Comments
Ahhh yes
Technology and communications and even sometimes on the same day……a helo wants to take a rest
Good on Mr Goguen!
I am a little surprised the 40th Helicopter Squadron from Malmstrom AFB wasn’t dispatched….
What has this to do with Wildland fire/aviation?
It’s a really good reminder that over-reliance on aircraft to get you out is a mistake, whether to a safety zone, or for a medevac. They’re a great tool, and I’d love to have one available when I need it, but NEVER build your entire plans around assuming it’ll be there when things go bad. Always have a backup plan, and a backup to your backup plan, especially in an emergency. I’ve been very pleased on several recent incidents with injuries, when aircraft were en route to get the injured, and the decision was made to still keep ground resources en route “just in case”.
Likewise the over reliance of technology such as the ever reliable comment systems and GPS problems that can occur….
And this has EVERYTHING to do with Wildland fire / aviation……those folks have the ever reliance on GPS units, BK radios and the programmable TDFM 136 series radios that seem to need reprogramming about every 36 seconds when a GACC radio plan comes out
Thought everyone KNEW that all this had to do with Wildland fire / aviation…..this ain’t 1936 thru 1949 firefighting where a compass, shovel, and maybe a wet gunnysacks were the tech of the day…….
Bravo Sierra, this civilian rescue and problems with it are nothing new. The medevac process within the FS and other agencies is well documented and doesn’t need to be rehashed for the readers of this website. ICs and field personnel who don’t know this stuff have a serious issue involving their training and corresponding responsibilities. Maybe this website should start posting stories about civilian aircraft maintenance problems, pilot errors, weather events. Could be a rather lengthy list and end up being a duplicated effort.
Steve, that’s some pretty harsh criticism for Bill’s site that, in my opinion, does an excellent job of sharing valuable information related to wildfire aviation operations. If you’re unhappy with his content I would suggest there is a plethora of other websites you could visit.
Comment should be communications…….
Great story. Please continue to keep us informed. As a retired 39 year career professional I can say without hesitation that medivac is probably the biggest improvement to rural trauma we’ve ever seen. Oh, and not to mention helicopters impact on the improvements to wildland firefighting. Keep up the good work guys!
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