More SAR...

Subject: EMAIL YOU'LL WANT TO READ


Below is an email from one of the HH-60 pilots to Ops. Please feel free to forward as you like.Again, as I opened my in box this morning to find a long list of emails from all manner of Coast Guard people praising the work you did, I remain amazed, not surprised, and never before have I been this proud of a group of people. 42 lives saved from 36 degree water at night. Wow.Read on...


-----Original Message-----From: McLaughlin, Brian LTSent: Monday, March 24, 2008 11:27 AMTo: Terrell, James LTSubject: ThanksJimmy, I wanted to drop you a line to try to express our sincere appreciation for your crew's efforts yesterday during the main portion of the Alaskan Ranger case. As we left, we asked your Control watch stander to relay that to your CO, but it's kind of hard to get the point across on a working freq. I wanted to give you a little of our perspective of what happened, so your crew can truly appreciate what it was they were doing yesterday, in case there was anyone who was still unsure (though highly unlikely). As you may or may not have been able to hear, as we approached the Ranger before it had sunk, we were able to reach them on the radio about 30NM north of their position. They stated that the ship was at a 45 degree list, some people had gotten into rafts, others were in the water, and they had no idea how many had ended up in either situation. The concern on the voice on the other end of the radio was palpable, and filled our aircraft with the looming dread that what we were heading for was very real. The "good" news was that everyone had been able to don their survival suits before abandoning ship. They stated there were the final 7 people on board getting ready to get in the rafts, and that was the last communication we heard from them until we got on scene. As we approached the scene we saw 3 strobe lights and figured those were the rafts. A little closer and there was a fourth light, fifth, sixth, and the numbers just kept growing. The first strobe we flew over was a pair of survivors in gumby suits waving at us. We did a quick "big picture" scan and saw the ocean flashing at us over about a mile-long stretch, yet no Alaskan Ranger that we could see. The scene was very grim. Deciding that we had to get the people that were not in rafts first, we picked a spot and began hoisting. I called the one raft that had a handheld radio and explained to them what we were doing while the rest of my crew was busy getting the rescue swimmer out the door. On scene we worked on staying above the 20-foot seas yet low enough to see the water through the snow squalls (as you were all very aware of). In the next 50 minutes or so, we would pick 13 people out of the water and stacked them in the cabin, while trying to coordinate an offload with the Alaskan Warrior, as it was only 5 nm away. Unfortunately, due to the weather and the rigging on the Warrior, we were unable to get the crewmembers off loaded. The benefits to using the Warrior should be obvious due to its close proximity, as should the ultimate difficulty of the decision to finally call off attempts to hoist to it - a decision I will personally live with for a long time. So we headed north to your position. Already, you had launched the 6566, and had made preparations to receive our survivors. The speed and safety with which your crew transferred the survivors out of the basket and got ready for the next one was phenomenal. During the hoisting, I (as the non-flying pilot) ran through some fuel calculations and realized if we didn't fuel at that time, our on-scene time would have been about 10 minutes at best. Given that word, your crew once again rolled into Flight Con IV, and we were quickly taking on fuel. As if that weren't enough to keep you busy, the fuel critical 6566 called in with 36 minutes until they went swimming, and you switched again from HIFR ops for us to recovering them and their survivors. Returning back on scene, we went back to it. We were relieved at this point to hear that the Warrior had picked up another 22 people in addition to the 5 the 6566 had recovered. Meanwhile, your crew had nearly 20 crewmembers to care for, in addition to re-launching the 6566 and getting ready for us to return again. After recovering 4 more crewmembers, Petty Officer Heller and searching for the remainder, we returned to the Munro once again for offload and fuel. Then began the musical chairs hoisting of survivors and rescue swimmers, HIFR, and more hoisting. All this on top of which you provided my crew with some food and drink, life-saving in and of itself, as it surely gave us the energy to make it back to St Paul without becoming the next statistic. It is vividly apparent to me and my crew that your crew was rolling as continuously as we were from the 3 o'clock hour, and continued to do so even after we left scene. This case covered literally just about every aspect of CG SAR training that they beat into us as pilots: navigating and operating in poor weather, high seas, hoisting survivors in the water and in rafts, hoisting to a pitching fishing vessel, then to a pitching cutter, HIFR ops, search planning, etc. It was by far the most large-scale CG operation that I have ever been involved with, employing 5 aircraft, 7 crews, good sams, etc., all of which centered about the Cutter Munro. If you hadn't been there, I can't imagine what the final outcome would have been. As you continue on your patrol and on this case, as I'm sure you are, please know that outside of the obvious numerous survivors that you are bringing back home, your fellow Coasties are well aware of what you put forth to make it happen, and are damn thankful that you were there to do it. Please pass our gratitude and sincere respect to your crew.


Semper Paratus.

Brian


Captain Craig Barkley Lloyd
Commanding Officer
USCGC MUNRO