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.

Cruising is the way to go!!

Hello again! A vacation I needed and a vacation I got. What a trip. If I could, I'd suggest everyone take a cruise some day. They are so much fun and so easy, and it really is a pretty good deal. Lets see, I'll catch you all up since the end of September. I left off after my buddy Mike visited. Ah yes, well, my external harddrive crapped out in the beginning of the month so I was livid for a while. I had all my pictures and songs and some important files on it. Needless to say it would have been tragic if i couldn't have recovered them. But luckily it turned out to be just the power cord (which was my original thought when it first occured). So I was pretty busy at the beginning of the month trying to figure that out. And then of course I was trying not to think about my cruise because then time would have creeped by. But soon enough the 10th rolled around and I was off to Pheonix to meet up with Amanda and head to Miami.

We showed up and my buddy BJ picked us up from the airport and we went out to breakfast. Then he had to go get ready for a flight, so he dropped us at the pier and there we waited until boarding began. While standing in line we met some folks that we would end up getting to know throughout the week. When they were finally ready to let us on, we headed up the stairs and started the process of getting checked in and getting our key cards and all that fun stuff...which took WAY too long. Then, we stepped onboard, and the fun was about to begin. I won't go into too much detail, but I'll try to lay the week out for you.

We got underway Sunday afternoon after spending some time on the sun deck and having a drink or two. Then we got some food and that night they had a welcome aboard show that we went to. It wasn't that great, but after that, we went to a lounge, had a few drinks and danced up a storm.

Monday was an at sea day, and so we just hung out on board. A lot of the day was spent in the sun by the pool. I also played some bing, some blackjack, sat in the jacuzi and just enjoyed some time away from work in the sun. Amanda did pretty much the same thing too. Although funny enough, during the week we figured out that we are SOOO different from each other, and so its a good thing we are planning on just staying friends. It seemed like all the shows I wanted to go to, she didn't, and vice versa. But it was still an awesome time. Monday night I ended up at the lounge again, and this time I ended up talking with the Cruise Director a few of his staff members. Funny enough, I got to know the cruise staff very well throughout the week. They are all really awesom people and made the week even better.

Tuesday started the shore excursions. In the morning we pulled into the Dominican Republic and Amanda and I took a boat to Cayo Leventado, and little island with a beach and a lot of other stuff. We ended up swimming, catching rays, and I played some Volleyball with a fun family that was on the island too. We also ended up buying some paintings from a local. Gorgeous! I didn't have my camera with me, so I don't have any pics sadly enough.

Wednesday we were in Tortola, of the British Virgin Islands and Amanda and I went with Daryl and Phillis (the couple we stood in line with at the beginning) to the Virgin Gorda Baths and did some snorkeling and hiking through some HUGE granite boulders. Really awesome sights. First time I'd been snorkeling too!! I almost snagged a sand dollar from the bottom of the bay, but it broke in my hand :( (That night back on board the ship was also filled with a lot of drinking, dancing, gambling, and just plain craziness)

Thursday was at the US Vigin Islands on St. Thomas. Here we had signed up for an Ocean Racing Excursion. So we headed out in the morning and went and sailed a sailboat as part of the crew while racing another boat just outside the bay. What an experience it was. Exciting, and a bit of a workout. Nothing beats being out on the ocean moving through the waves with just the wind pushing you around. (This night was pretty crazy too, but not as bad as Wed. night)

Friday was another at sea day. We tried to make it a little bit more laid back and less crazy, and it worked out alright for me, but not so well for Amanda. The day was great, just catching rays and enjoying the sun...drinking a bit and laughing a lot. Amanda decided to take a nap though, and I went gambling. But when the alarm went off, Amanda knocked her head pretty bad (poor thing) and didn't want to do anything other than just rest and let her head return to normal. So I went to dinner with Phillis and Daryl and his parents like we had made reservations for. (oh yeah, Monday night and Friday night we got dressed up "formal like" and mingled). But after dinner they had a gameshow called the Quest (an adult scavenger hunt) that I played in, and it ended up being a pretty crazy night anyways. Lets just say there was one time when I was standing there in just my socks boxers and undershirt...(but thats not as bad as a bunch of guys who were dressed in bikinis!!)

And then we were on to Saturday. In the morning we pulled into Great Stirrup Cay. A private Island in the Bahamas that Norwegian Cruise Lines actually owns. On the island they had a barbecue and I ended up playing volleyball all day while Amanda layed out in the sun and went swimming. What a gorgeous day. And then it was back to the ship Saturday night and a farewell dance that night. Ended up dancing with Amanda and another girl that I met onboard too....actually, she worked on board, but hey, there's nothing wrong with that!!

And then there was Sunday morning. I was a dumbass and booked our flight for two hours after we docked, so we ended up missing it, but we got on a flight a little bit later and made it back to Pheonix Sunday afternoon. We were both pooped and ended up going to bed pretty early. Sadly Amanda needed to do a lot school work to catch up for the missed week, so she had a bit of stress to deal with :( But then Monday I flew back to Portland, and my wonderful adventure in the Caribbean was over.

I miss it like crazy already and I can't wait to get back on another cruise. But, at least I made some good friends that I hope to see again sometime, including Daryl and Phillis, Jill, and of course I'm still friends with Amanda.

But now that its over, I'm back to work and taking care of the normal business. I took care of a bunch of stuff at work when I got back, and I stood duty on Thanksgiving so that all the people with families could spend the holiday at home. Now its Sunday night and I'm getting ready to go full swing back to work. I hope I survive!!

Turkey Day :-)

Deep frying turkeys to enjoy with my fellow watchstanders. I hope that everyone else has a wonderful thanksgiving too :-) love to all.

A little bit of love...

So I'm on the way home from dropping one of my best friends off at the airport. (We've known each other since about 2nd grade and have been through some crazy stuff while growing up). Anyway, I'm on the way home listening to music and just letting my mind wander and I get to thinking about being happy and how I've changed and how my view on the world has changed since I was a bit younger. I should add that part of this thinking came froma discussion that Mike (my friend) and I had the night before about "carpe diem" and things of that nature. But I got to realizing that I've become extremely guarded lately. Not sure if any of that has to do with my fiance leaving me back in May, or if it stems from just getting older, probably a bit of both really. So I was thinking about that and how it really is just a choice that we make as to whether we're going to be happy or not. I think that over the past who knows how long I've started thinking only about myself, becoming selfish, and because of that I've lost the ability to be happy with what I have. I always seem to want something different. And half the time I don't even know what that something is that I want. Sad, I know...but I think its a common thing. And trust me that I am no preacher, but I think the biggest cure for it is love. Not love as in "I'm so in love with you", but Godly love as in the "I'll put you before me" type of love. The kind of selfless love when you look out for others more than you look out for yourself. Obviously you can't forget about yourself, but to show love and caring for others seems to make such a big change in your life. I can't think of a single time when I helped someone out and I didn't feel good about myself afterwards. Even if that person was an ass and wasn't thankful at all, I still felt good about being able to help others. I think its that type of love that is missing in this world these days, and I believe that we should all work harder to revive it. Take a few minutes out of your day, each and every day, to go out of the way to help someone else. Open a door when you don't have to, let some one into your line of traffic when you ordinarily wouldn't, volunteer some of your time at a local help organization to help make a difference for others. Anything you can do to show love to another human will not only make you feel better about yourself, but it may just change someone elses life. Yes, you may never know it, but that shouldn't matter. Obviously what you do is up to you, but for me, I know that I'm going to work a little harder to help others and to become a little bit more selfless in my everyday life.

Darn Computers....among other things

Hello again. I'm sure you all probably don't remember me since its been so long since you've heard from me. But I'm Mark, the fun-loving guy living up here in the upper Northwest of the US, trying to help others and keep myself out of trouble. But enough about me...how about we talk about my stupid computer. One of the few reasons I haven't posted anything latly. Its decided to give me a hard disk issue. So it just kinda turns itself off every now and then (usually when I'm in the middle of something important). And then of course it doesn't want to start up again. So I might be investing in a new hard drive, unless anyone out there knows what the error code "HD521-2VV" stands for. Alrighty, I know, lame excuse for not putting up a post. I guess I've also been pretty busy lately. Seems like I'm never at home. Actually, I had one of my friends ask me today how many days I've actually been in the office at work in the last six months. I think his guess was 10. So needless to say, I've been around. So lets see what I've been up to. (I had to check my last post to see where I had left off, so I'm back to typing again...not like you even know I was gone). I'm still in training at the fire department, which is going very well. I have to miss it every now and then because of work issues, but I'm still learning a lot. Not to mention I'm putting up with the wonderful people I get to work with ;-) Speaking of work, things are gonna get busier again, even when I thought they were as busy as they could be. I've been enrolled in the First Pilot Syllabus. Which means I'll be studying a lot and flying a lot, trying to upgrade from CoPilot to First Pilot. (more responsibility, and the ability to fly more flights, YIPEE!) Oh, and I'll be gone all this week in Portland participating in an exercise. (even more time I'm away from home) I think that about sums it up for the work stuff On to the personnal side of things. Where to begin? I think I've basically decided to relocate myself onto the "dating around" shelf. Which, if you know me, isn't what I'm normally like. I've always been the "find one person that you see yourself with in the future and settle down" type of guy. So the idea of dating a bunch of girls at once is relatively new to me, but I'm trying it on (even though I have no idea what I'm doing). Hopefully I don't screw things up too badly or get a bunch of girls pissed at me!! So if you have any pointers, please share :-) (or for that matter, if you are interested in going out sometime...let me know) Well, enough about that stuff. I don't think you all want to read about the soap opera that is my life. On a brighter (and more painful) note, I ran a 10K this morning! It was the Great Collumbia Crossing. A 10K that starts in Washington on the North side of the Columbia River, and then we run across the Astoria-Megler bridge (the one you see in the beginning of Goonies when chunk smashes his shake against the window) to the Oregon side. It was a lot of fun and I ran it with my friend Em and a bunch of the people I work with and their wives. So needless to say I am tired and sore. And I think on that note, I am going to head to bed. Cause I have to be up for work tomorrow and then a drive to Portland. I look forward to reading your comments and hearing about what is up with you!! Stay safe