Crestone Needle, Colorado National Guard mountain rescue
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Crestone Needle, Colorado National Guard mountain rescue
Just saw this on YouTube, seems like a very well done documentary by the Colorado National Guard
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That's well done. Working around mountains it tough.
Dunno if it`s a `standard fit` but looked like there was armour plating around the front seats; would have thought that it was not necessary,and a weight saving.
Also,,RAF procedure was not to unclip the `collar`, just put it over the survivors head/shoulders,and tighten the `noose`..Nevertheless,bloody good job/BZ by the crew....
Also,,RAF procedure was not to unclip the `collar`, just put it over the survivors head/shoulders,and tighten the `noose`..Nevertheless,bloody good job/BZ by the crew....
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Dunno if it`s a `standard fit` but looked like there was armour plating around the front seats; would have thought that it was not necessary,and a weight saving.
Also,,RAF procedure was not to unclip the `collar`, just put it over the survivors head/shoulders,and tighten the `noose`..Nevertheless,bloody good job/BZ by the crew....
Also,,RAF procedure was not to unclip the `collar`, just put it over the survivors head/shoulders,and tighten the `noose`..Nevertheless,bloody good job/BZ by the crew....
I saw another video from the same unit where most of the soundproofing panels were removed from the cabin and I noticed only the gunners seats appeared to be installed.
You’ll also notice in the video above they show two different configurations of Hoist systems for their aircraft, the Goodrich internal rescue hoist, which I understand is the same as was used in the UH-1.
The other is the Breeze Eastern ESSS mounted hoist.
Unfortunately never operationally used these systems but did maintain them for a few years. Great job to the crew. I enjoyed the detail they inserted into the video that explained the operations between the climbing, rescue and flight operations views.
Flt Mech
Dunno if it`s a `standard fit` but looked like there was armour plating around the front seats; would have thought that it was not necessary,and a weight saving.
Also,,RAF procedure was not to unclip the `collar`, just put it over the survivors head/shoulders,and tighten the `noose`..Nevertheless,bloody good job/BZ by the crew....
Also,,RAF procedure was not to unclip the `collar`, just put it over the survivors head/shoulders,and tighten the `noose`..Nevertheless,bloody good job/BZ by the crew....
Both of those casualties were mobile and relatively secure so passing the strop over their heads would have been much quicker = less exposure time and therefore safer.
That is a minor criticism of one technique in what was a very well planned and flown rescue and they deserve their awards.
What impressed me most was them striving to improve but in an incremental fashion to reduce the additional risks brought about by NVG work etc.
What they prove is that SAR is ALL about good quality training and lots of it plus the correct mental attitude and mitigation of risk.
Very well done chaps
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The lesser considered mention is it was a National Guard unit (part-timers) that are providing this level of performance.
I did not see if the crew that was flying the Mission were full time employees or just part-time National Guardsmen.
The fact such professionalism is maintained in a Non-Active Duty unit is impressive....and reminds me of my service in the National Guard post Vietnam.
In that unit we had a former Navy Pilot who had sunk a Japanese Destroyer in Kure, Japan while flying Dive Bombers in WWII and a couple of former Air Force pilots who had flown in Korea and a host of Army Pilots who had flown in Vietnam....and the lone Air Force C-130 Pilot who had flown in Vietnam. All brought a tremendous amount of experience to a single aviation unit.
We see that today as well as our National Guard and Army Reserve units are organic units assigned to Active Duty Units and many have been deployed overseas flying combat missions.
The Guard is known as "weekend warriors" but that is not exactly the full story these days.
The Colorado National Guard operates a High Altitude Training Facility.
https://co.ng.mil/About/Schoolhouse-HAATS/
I did not see if the crew that was flying the Mission were full time employees or just part-time National Guardsmen.
The fact such professionalism is maintained in a Non-Active Duty unit is impressive....and reminds me of my service in the National Guard post Vietnam.
In that unit we had a former Navy Pilot who had sunk a Japanese Destroyer in Kure, Japan while flying Dive Bombers in WWII and a couple of former Air Force pilots who had flown in Korea and a host of Army Pilots who had flown in Vietnam....and the lone Air Force C-130 Pilot who had flown in Vietnam. All brought a tremendous amount of experience to a single aviation unit.
We see that today as well as our National Guard and Army Reserve units are organic units assigned to Active Duty Units and many have been deployed overseas flying combat missions.
The Guard is known as "weekend warriors" but that is not exactly the full story these days.
The Colorado National Guard operates a High Altitude Training Facility.
https://co.ng.mil/About/Schoolhouse-HAATS/
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SAS,
It seems to me that some National Guard aviation units may have a leg up on others based on what missions they accomplish inside their state.
Colorado is a good example of this where they train and operate as a normal course in the high altitude environment, even running (as you pointed out) the High Altitude training center for the Army.
Add to this the annual fire season and it’s not hard to image a more experienced and well rounded group.
Arizona Guard has the Western Area training center(WAATS) and Pennsylvania has Eastern AATS.
I don’t know this to be true but it seems the Western United States may use more hours on real world missions inside their states and regions than perhaps the rest of the country, though the Tennessee and Kentucky Guard did a lot of hoist work during flash flooding last year.
One item of interest for the Nation Guard going forward appears to be the fielding of UH-60M across the States instead of a mixture of UH-60L/V/M models. In my mind having a standardized fleet would seem to open more opportunities for cross training among the Aviation units down the road.
Bottom line there are a lot of good people out there doing amazing things all over the country and it’s great to see it so well presented.
FltMech
It seems to me that some National Guard aviation units may have a leg up on others based on what missions they accomplish inside their state.
Colorado is a good example of this where they train and operate as a normal course in the high altitude environment, even running (as you pointed out) the High Altitude training center for the Army.
Add to this the annual fire season and it’s not hard to image a more experienced and well rounded group.
Arizona Guard has the Western Area training center(WAATS) and Pennsylvania has Eastern AATS.
I don’t know this to be true but it seems the Western United States may use more hours on real world missions inside their states and regions than perhaps the rest of the country, though the Tennessee and Kentucky Guard did a lot of hoist work during flash flooding last year.
One item of interest for the Nation Guard going forward appears to be the fielding of UH-60M across the States instead of a mixture of UH-60L/V/M models. In my mind having a standardized fleet would seem to open more opportunities for cross training among the Aviation units down the road.
Bottom line there are a lot of good people out there doing amazing things all over the country and it’s great to see it so well presented.
FltMech
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Bottom line there are a lot of good people out there doing amazing things all over the country and it’s great to see it so well presented.
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JE,can`t believe it would be significant enough to affect handling...
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