My adventures in Washington

The past week I was without power and internet which sucked for me, but in the real aspect of things, it wasn't even something to really worry about compared to other people. When the powerful storm ripped through the NW last suday/monday, millions of people went without power for an extended period (some of which still don't have any). The following is what I had the pleasure of participating in with several others that I work with. It made me realize how devestating weather can be, and it made me glad that I do what I do. The following is a summary of actions that I wrote up retelling the events of the flight I was on last Monday. I hope you enjoy it. Mark

LT Bartram, PO Ramsey, PO Lieb and I came on duty Monday morning (3DEC07) at 0800. During our brief we learned that the previous crew had flown the night before looking for 4 hunters that were stranded on Long Island in Willapa Bay. We were told to expect to fly a search pattern in order to find and evacuate them that day if the winds died down a bit. At approximately 1200, after receiving new information on the hunters exact location, and entering a slight lull in the winds (gusts staying below 60 kts for a 1/2 hour), our operations officer decided to launch our crew to retrieve the hunters. We got airborne at 1304 and headed northwest towards Willapa Bay. During our transit we experienced heavy turbulence and excessive gust spreads of 20-30 kts. So much so, neither of the crewmembers in back wanted to unbuckle in order to take video of the 40-50 ft seas breaking over the south jetty. Heading North, I noted a sustained 60 kt tailwind gusting into the 70s. As we quickly reached the Northern edge of Long Island, we turned Southbound, circling around and traveling down the East coast of the island. When we reached the Southeast corner of the island we began our search for the hunters, because this was the area they were said to have been at. While searching, we received a radio call from Astoria Air saying that if we did not find the hunters in the next five minutes we were to divert to Chehalis for more SAR. At that time we spotted the hunters near a shack in the trees. We discussed our landing options and decided on a hard-packed gravel road next to the water. We set down and the swimmer left to go retrieve the hunters. After approximately 20 minutes on deck, we had all 4 hunters loaded and we lifted off to drop them at their vehicles. We slid back and left to the boat ramp that was across the water. During the landing we experienced heavy downdrafts off the shoreline's ridge causing us to pull torque exceeding 115%. Once on deck, we offloaded the hunters and then lifted off to head to Chehalis at 1354. During this time we received some conflicting reports on where the flooding was located, so we initially headed north towards KHQM. After about 5 minutes we received word that it was at the Chehalis airport and not the Chehalis River, and that we needed to head back south and take the Columbia River East to the I-5 corridor. So we then proceeded back South to the Columbia, losing about 20 minutes in the process because of the excessive headwind that we were now fighting (approx 65 kts). After our transit up the river and I-5, we arrived on scene in Chehalis at 1500, just behind the 6006. After trying to coordinate for a few minutes over the radio, we received a position and proceeded there to begin rescues. While transiting to the first position we were all amazed at the devastation in front of us. Houses were flooded up to their rooftops. Cars were completely covered; trees were down all over the place. Surprisingly a lot of power lines were still intact and providing power to houses that were completely or partially flooded. [ Just as a precursor, all of the hoists that we did were in variable conditions. The wind was never steady and had 20-30 kt gust spreads. The visibility also changed frequently, going from vis of about 3-4 miles at some times, down to less than a mile with heavy rain. This also made things a bit more difficult when operating on NVGs. ] The first houses we arrived at, there were several people on the roof of one and next door there were several more on the deck and in the windows. We began our checklists to execute a hoist, but there was a rescue boat that had arrived on scene and waved us off. So we left that position and began searching the river for more people that were stranded. The next set of houses we came to had 7 people at one house and 1 at another house nearby. We began by lowering the swimmer down to the house with 7 people. He briefed the survivors and then called for the rescue basket. We did 5 basket hoists at that house and then retrieved the swimmer. Two of the 7 decided to remain at the house. We then moved across the street (or what we think used to be a street because it was completely flooded) to recover the other person. We again lowered the swimmer, then executed a basket hoist of the survivor, and recovered the swimmer. With no more people in that area, we continued our search down the flooded river, looking at all the houses we flew past to see if any people were in distress. Coming around a bend in the river, we came upon the 6006 and Navy Rescue 2 (a Navy H-60). Speaking on the radio with the 6006, they directed us to a position between them and NR2 where 4 people were stranded in a rowboat. This hoist was particularly difficult. Because the people were on a boat and they were near a house and power lines, we opted to do a Strop augmented pickup with the swimmer. We lowered the swimmer to the boat and he grabbed the first survivor. While hoisting the swimmer and survivor back to the helicopter, the boat broke free from the house that it was attached to and began drifting down the river with the current. Working around the live power lines, trees, and houses, we executed two high hoists (above 100 ft so we wouldn't swamp the boat with the rotor wash) to recover two more people from the vessel. After the 3rd hoist, the boat got pushed into a fence near a large tree. We re-evaluated, and decided to do a basket hoist for the final lift. We lowered the swimmer to an area near the boat, and he was able to wade waist deep over to the survivor. We then lowered the basket and recovered the 4th and final survivor from the vessel. After that, we recovered our swimmer, and now having 10 survivors onboard and starting to run low on fuel, we departed for the Chehalis airport to drop them off and refuel. We landed at Chehalis at 1620 where we pulled next to the fuel pump and shut down. We unloaded the survivors, of whom there were a mix of adults, teens, children, and even a few pets. While fueling, we worked with T. English, a local Sheriff, who was coordinating positions with the helos. We passed a few coordinates to the Navy helo that was waiting to use the fuel pit, and then decided to take the Sheriff onboard with us to direct us to people in need. We finished fueling after almost an hour (the pump was really slow and they could only pump $500 worth at a time) and spun up. We were airborne again at 1710 and it was now dark, so we were on NVGs. The first position we received from our newly acquired Sheriff had a lady with a red and white light. We arrived at the position and found the lady with the lights and several other people. We lowered the swimmer down to assess the situation. After a few minutes, he radioed us back and told us of all the survivors located there (15 total) and requested the basket. We moved into position and executed 7 basket hoists recovering 11 persons and several pets. There were 4 others that elected to remain there. We then recovered the swimmer and returned to the Chehalis airport to drop the survivors off. On deck at the airport, we received word from our Sheriff that there was a 97 year old non-ambulatory male who required assistance. So we departed the airport (after deplaning all our survivors) and headed to that position. When we got there, we located the persons and lowered the swimmer to them. We then circled while the swimmer helped the individual to the door. Once the swimmer was ready, we lowered the basket to him and he worked to get the survivor in the basket. When we got the survivor inside the helo, the flight mech and the Sheriff helped to get him out of the basket and onto a seat. I had forgotten to mention earlier, but the Sheriff was extremely helpful in all aspects while he was onboard. Not only did he direct us to people in need, but he also helped calm children when they were hoisted, help get the elderly out of the basket, and got blankets for those who were cold. He was a valuable asset to have in the helo with us. After getting the man situated, we lowered the basket again for the lady and her dog. They were both in the basket ready to be hoisted when the dog (who was going crazy) jumped out. The hoist was continued with just the lady. Once that was done, we sent the basket back down, and the swimmer corralled the dog and got it in the basket with him, and they were both hoisted up successfully. Because the male was wet and possibly hypothermic, we decided to head directly to the airport, calling ahead for an ambulance, so he could get proper medical care.

After dropping the survivors off, we returned to the same position where we had seen several other people shining lights at us trying to get our attention for help. We came upon about a 100 stretch of street that was not flooded, but was surrounded by power lines. There were three more elderly people at that location, so we lowered the swimmer to get them ready to be hoisted. Once ready, we sent the basket down three times to recover all three survivors, and then recovered the swimmer. The hardest task during this evolution was trying to remain clear of all the power lines, which were most likely still energized because there were some lights on in buildings that weren't completely flooded. After recovering all three survivors and the swimmer, we headed off to a new position that was reported as having 7 persons in distress. When we arrived on scene, we recognized the position as the same are that we had hoisted the lady with the red and white light, and the 10 people from the other family. There were still a couple people on the ground, but they were the ones that we had left there before, and they gave us some thumbs up and indicated that they were ok. So we received another position from the Sheriff and headed there. When we arrived we found two neighboring houses that were cut off from everything else by floodwater. We were told that there were 4 people in the one house, only two of which were going to leave. We lowered the swimmer to assess the situation, and after a few minutes on deck, he reported to us that there were also 11 people in the house next door looking to evacuate. We realized that we didn't have enough room in the helo to recover all of the survivors at once, so we completed 4 basket hoists, recovering 6 survivors and several animals. We then departed the scene (leaving our swimmer on deck), dropped off the survivors at the airport and returned to the position for the rest of the people. Once back, we continued basket hoists recovering the other 7 people that were going to leave. We then picked up our swimmer and departed the scene for the airport to drop off the passengers and refuel. We landed on deck this time and dropped off our survivors. The 6006 was also on deck, and since we were required to head back to Astoria after this refuel (because we were just about at 6 hours), they requested that we let them take our sheriff so that they could continue searching for another hour. We agreed and the sheriff headed off to the 6006. They also passed another location that was 3 miles south of the field and asked if we had enough fuel to head down there and do a couple of hoists. We were currently at 1000 lbs, and so we agreed to do it. After arriving at the position, however, we realized that it was a bad position, and so we returned to the airport to shut down for fuel. When we landed on deck, we realized that the airport itself was beginning to flood, and had about 4 inches of water over most of the taxiway and ramp area. We taxied in to the fuel pit and after the Navy helo that was fueling finished, we began fueling ourselves. We had originally planned to take on 500 gallons of fuel, but after being on deck for about 40 minutes, the water was already over a foot deep and so we secured at 375 gallons. After we started up and were taxiing to the ramp, the mech reported that the water was coming over the wheels and was almost level with the cabin deck. We then pulled into a hover, finished our flight checks and departed the airport. Once in the air, we established communications with the 6006 and told them that we were returning to base. At the same time EOC was trying to contact all the helicopters in the area and so we acted as a repeater between the 6006, Navy Rescue 2, and the EOC. We circled south of the Chehalis airport for about 20 inutes and then we departed scene and headed south along I-5 to return to Astoria. Along the way we saw the extent of the flooding over the top of I-5 and several other areas. Once to Longview we headed west along the Columbia, which was pretty uneventful until we reached Puget Island. At that point the wind started picking up again and buffeting the aircraft and we also lost most of our visual references because it was raining and all the power was out, so there were no lights. Even with NVGs, it was almost pitch black. We ended up navigating back to Astoria by using a mixture of the AVMAP, the RADAR and following the buoys marking the channel on the river. This continued until we reached Astoria. We landed on the darkened airport, taxied in, and shut down so the aircraft could be serviced and sent up with another crew to do the same thing.