Rescue flight makes second save in nine days
by Airman 1st Class Christie Putz
92nd Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
10/14/2004 - FAIRCHILD AIR FORCE BASE, Wash. (AFPN) -- The 36th Rescue Flight made its second save in nine days with the rescue of an injured survival student Oct. 11.
The student, a lieutenant, was doing night navigation training in the Colville National Forest when he tripped, fell and lost consciousness.
The instructors immediately called the Tacoma Command Post, the operations center for their off-base training location, and notified them of the situation at 8:25 p.m.
“We walked about a kilometer [0.62 miles] up the mountain to the site, while the crew got in the air,” said Tech. Sgt. William Mehm, a survival medic with the 336th Training Support Squadron.
When Sergeant Mehm arrived on scene, the survival instructors already had the student stabilized and were keeping him warm by a fire.
“The instructors secured a landing zone for the helo, cut a lane from the site to the LZ so we could transport the patient and even assisted in carrying about 200 pounds of medical gear,” he said.
The crew, using night-vision goggles, was at the site and had the student on the litter by 10 p.m., said Maj. William Franklin, a UH-1N Huey pilot for the flight.
They took him to a medical center in Spokane, where he is recovering.
Joining Major Franklin and Sergeant Mehm on the mission were co-pilot 1st Lt. Michael Volkerding and flight engineer Senior Airman James Kempfer. |
|
|
|
Printable story
E-mail story
Advanced Search