Army team hosts copter training off Bellows

By William Cole
Advertiser Military Writer

BELLOWS AIR FORCE STATION — Three helicopters chattered in the air. By the look of things, a major disaster had just occurred in Waimanalo Bay.

A Honolulu Fire Department rescuer swings from a basket as he's carried offshore by HFD's Air One helicopter during a training exercise with the Army and Coast Guard off Bellows. Last week's exercise helped familiarize the different rescue groups with each other's procedures and capabilities. Cory Lum • The Honolulu Advertiser

HFD's little yellow and white MD 520N buzzed back and forth from the beach, pulling swimmers out of the water using a basket that dangled below.

But any casualties this day were due to sunburn as the rescue groups came together for one of two joint training exercises held every year.

City emergency medical services, Honolulu lifeguards and the Federal Fire Department also participated.

"This training familiarizes the Fire Department, the EMS crews, with each agency's aircraft and capabilities," said Chief Warrant Officer 2 Chris Jordan, assistant operations officer for the 68th Medical Co. out of Wheeler Army Airfield.

Last week's "hoist exercise" also helped familiarize the rescue groups with each other's procedures so when they collaborate in an actual emergency, there's harmony in the air and on the ground.

Through the Army's Military Assistance to Safety and Traffic (MAST) program for civilian casualties, the 68th provides between 17 and 20 air evacuations a month.

The three-day exercise, which also included practice rescues from wooded areas, was hosted by the 68th "Dustoff" unit, which evacuates injured civilians to O'ahu hospitals from about 70 different pickup sites around the island.

Jordan, 30, said there's a real need for hoist proficiency — especially on the North Shore, where a lot of surfers get into trouble.

"The Coast Guard's got the main job of over-water rescue," Jordan said. "However, we've been called out on missions close to shore where people need to be hoisted out.

"That's why we try to hammer out these differences here in these training exercises, because with the rotor wash from helicopters and the noise, and during night or bad weather conditions, it becomes a lot more difficult."

The HFD's Air One helicopter sometimes responds to more than 30 calls a month, said pilot Terry Watanabe.

A U.S. Coast Guard HH-65 Dolphin helicopter takes off after plucking "casualties" out of the ocean and flying them to safety at Bellows Air Force Station near Waimanalo. Cory Lum • The Honolulu Advertiser

Just two days before, the Fire Department chopper rescued a hiker stranded on a ridge in Kahalu'u.

"He was stuck pretty good. He wasn't going to go anywhere without our help," Watanabe said.

"It's usually because they don't plan well, leave too late in the afternoon, and don't realize how long it takes to get back out. "As you lose daylight, you don't know which trail you came up on."

Watanabe said that "the No. 1 thing that's saved a lot of hikers is a cell phone."

Coast Guard Lt. Olav Saboe, an HH-65 Dolphin pilot, said the joint training helps to determine which service is best suited for a particular job.

"When we receive a call for a search-and-rescue case," Saboe, 28, said, "we need to know what everyone's capable of, and who is the best to respond to a case like that because the bottom line is, if there's an emergency, we want the best outfit out there to save a life."

Barbers Point runs about 200 search and rescue missions a year, and of those, about 50 individuals must be hoisted in either a rescue basket or a stretcherlike litter because of injuries.

The Dolphins have a range of about 120 miles offshore, Saboe said. At that distance, the helicopter can be on scene for about 20 minutes and still have enough fuel to make it back.

Anything farther requires a stop on a Navy or Coast Guard ship for refueling.

About two weeks ago, the Coast Guard lifted a heart-attack victim off the cruise ship Infinity about 90 miles east of the Big Island.

The man was at Hilo Memorial Hospital 50 minutes later, Saboe said.

In that case, the Coast Guard was able to land on a helipad on the ship.

Saboe said the last big hoist operation he participated in was the rescue last spring of two fishermen about 15 miles north of Hale'iwa whose 25- to 30-foot boat capsized when they tried to pull in a 300-pound fish.

"We received a distress signal, we launched on the case, and within 15 minutes of them going overboard, we were on-scene hoisting them out," Saboe said.

For last week's exercise, volunteers in life jackets were towed by watercraft out to a spot off Bellows where rescue swimmers and helicopters were interspersed to practice the hoist operations.

Spc. Ernesto Rodriguez, 20, with the 1st Battalion, 27th Infantry Regiment reconnaissance platoon at Schofield Barracks, said the ride back to the beach in HFD's rescue basket "was pretty fun."

"They get you in and you have to sit all the way back in the cage," he said. "You're just sitting there swinging in the wind. It's pretty cool."

With the sun shining, and the blue-green waters of Waimanalo Bay looking inviting, it was a far cry from the conditions the rescue choppers sometimes see.

"Obviously, beautiful sunshine, this is going to be a little different than when we're normally hoisting, which is at night and usually bad weather when emergencies come up," Saboe said.

But with a grill going, and the chance to get a hot dog or hamburger in the shade on the beach afterward, no one was complaining.

Reach William Cole at wcole@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-5459.