CENTENNIAL, Colo., - Two OH-58 Kiowa helicopters from the Colorado Army National Guard's High-Altitude Army Aviation Training Site (HAATS) located the three missing hunters in good condition at about 10:30 a.m. today.
They were picked up by the Kiowas and taken to the incident command post for a medical evaluation.
An OH-58 helicopter and crew searching on Oct. 26 narrowed down the search area when they heard gunfire. Weather closed in on the search crew, and they had to call off the search. Ground crews searching late into the evening were unsuccessful in locating the hunters.
"It was a cold night last night, so we were all worried to hear the ground crews didn't find them last night," said Maj. Tony Somogyi, executive officer of HAATS. "We were very relieved to find them this morning,"
Colorago Guard rescue efforts are coordinated through the Colorado's Joint Operations Center in Centennial, Colo., and the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center. The AFRCC ties in to the Federal Aviation Administration's alerting system and the U.S. Mission Control Center.
HAATS is located in the small mountain town of Gypsum, Colo., near Vail. The school caters to rotary-wing military pilots from all over the world. Graduates of this challenging course leave with the knowledge of a unique training system known as Power Management.
This training concept, when applied rigorously, gives pilots the knowledge and confidence to operate their machines routinely and safely at maximum gross weights in any environment.
For more than 150 years the Colorado National Guard has served communities across Colorado while defending our nation. The Citizen-Soldiers and -Airmen of the Colorado National Guard are always ready, always there.