JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska - Alaska Air National Guardsmen of the 211th Rescue Squadron helped the Coast Guard rescue the pilot of a downed Cessna 207 Nov. 21 at Iliamna Lake.
The Coast Guard dispatched an HH-60 Jayhawk from Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak, and the 176th Operations Group search and rescue duty officer dispatched a 211th Rescue Squadron HC-130J Combat King II from Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson after the Alaska Rescue Coordination Center was notified of the crash on Iliamna Lake’s northwest shore.
The HC-130 was already airborne on a training flight. Alaska Air National Guard Maj. George Geiges, 211th RQS HC-130 combat systems officer, said the diversion expedited the response.
“We were out on a local training line, and we received word of an aircraft down in the vicinity of Lake Iliamna,” Geiges said. “There was some confusion at first as to whether the aircraft had crashed in the lake or was on or near the shore. We knew the pilot had gotten out of the aircraft, and our initial concern is if he had crashed in the lake, he would be wet and hypothermic within minutes.
“We accepted the mission and climbed high-level and got out there as fast as we could,” Geiges continued. “It was about a 40-minute flight. As we got on station, we got a working frequency from the RCC because there was another air taxi in the area who was talking to the survivor. He was able to give us a situation overview, letting us know he had crash-landed on shore, and he seemed OK.”
Geiges commended the pilot’s preparedness despite operating an aircraft that would otherwise disappear into its surroundings.
“It was a white aircraft with a dark blue bottom crashed into snow and brush, so it blended in really well,” Geiges said. “Luckily, the pilot was smart. He had a bright orange engine blanket, which he had placed in front of the aircraft. That is what we saw first.”
The HC-130 was able to contact the pilot via radio once overhead.
“He came up on frequency, we talked to him and did a quick medical assessment,” Geiges said. “He was good. He was up and walking, and he was uninjured. He had enough warm clothing and supplies for a couple of hours.”
Geiges let the pilot know the HC-130 was coordinating with the AKRCC, which was also working to get the Coast Guard Jayhawk to the pilot’s location to pick him up.
Because the pilot wanted to conserve his battery, he devised a plan with the HC-130 crew to turn off his radio until they flew overhead and rocked a wing to signal the helicopter was near so he could reactivate it.
As the HC-130 combat systems officer, Geiges has access to an electro-optical/infrared camera mounted on the nose of the aircraft that helps the crew to find isolated personnel and to pinpoint their coordinates using an integrated laser rangefinder.
“We set up a mile-and-half orbit around his vicinity, we got eyes on with the sensor, and we pulled a really detailed set of coordinates with the EO/IR,” Geiges said. “We passed that back to the RCC and coordinated a common deconfliction frequency with the Coast Guard helo.
“Once the Coast Guard helicopter got closer to the scene of the crash, we established communications with them, and gave a situation overview — what the pilot state was, what the aircraft state was — vectored them in to the survivor’s location. We did a low pass when the helicopter was about 10 minutes out to get the pilot back up on comms.”
The Jayhawk landed, and the crew did a quick check of the pilot before transporting him to the Iliamna clinic for further assessment.