JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska — Alaska Air National Guardsmen of the 176th Wing rescued three victims of a Cessna 180 crash Aug. 18 near Bettles, about 200 miles northwest of Fairbanks.
The Alaska Rescue Coordination Center at JBER opened the mission after receiving a 406 MHz emergency locator transmitter signal from the crashed Cessna and requested support from the 176th Wing.
The 176th Wing search and rescue duty officer dispatched a 210th Rescue Squadron Detachment 1 HH-60W Jolly Green II from Eielson Air Force Base with 212th pararescuemen, or PJs, aboard.
Detachment 1 comprises a command element permanently assigned to Eielson AFB, as well as pilots, special mission aviators and pararescue personnel assigned at JBER.
Initially flying toward the coordinates from the 406 MHz ELT, the crew received an updated location provided by a commercial two-way satellite communication device the occupants used to message a Bettles lodge owner, who then passed the coordinates to the helicopter crew.
The crew located the crash site, and the HH-60W special mission aviator hoisted the PJs to the ground a short distance from the crash victims to avoid rotor wash. The crew packaged an acutely injured patient in a Stokes litter before hoisting the patient into the helicopter. The crew then hoisted the other two crash victims for transport to Fairbanks Memorial Hospital, where an ambulance was waiting at the helipad.
Seibold credited the party with having a SATCOM device because it can sometimes provide more accurate coordinates than a 406 MHz ELT, allowing the rescue crew to vector in on the patient’s location within a tenth of a mile rather than conducting a search spanning as much as a mile.
“It minimizes the time searching for someone in the Alaska wilderness,” Seibold said. “So, if their medical condition is dire, that is extra time that we can get treatment on the patient.”
Many of the devices can also rapidly send text messages when paired with a smartphone.
“If they still have battery power on their phone, they can message the Rescue Coordination Center,” Seibold said. “And sometimes we will have the PJs in the back of the helicopter start messaging and asking about patient status and the weather conditions on the ground.”
Seibold said whether flying or hiking deep into the wilderness, it pays to be prepared.
“[The plane’s occupants] did everything they could by the book, and that really cut down on how long it took us to get to them and get them to a higher level of medical care,” he said.