Though winters in Alaska are typically slower than warmer months for the military rescue teams stationed there, the state’s flyers pulled off a rescue grand slam in late January — four responses to four different kinds of missions.
Over the last week in January, the Alaska Air National Guard’s 176th Wing flew to a remote Canadian town after an ultralight plane crashed there, answered a call for help from a small plane with engine issues near Anchorage, rushed to reach a backcountry snowboarder caught in an avalanche, and found a group of four hypothermic plane crash survivors as they tried to hike out from a remote lake that had swallowed their plane.
The Canadian mission even turned into a second multi-day, multi-aircraft mission when the Guard’s helicopter went down with mechanical issues 500 miles from home.
Four calls in five days
The frantic string of missions began on Jan. 26, when the Air Guard’s rescue units were dispatched to Faro, Canada where an ultralight plane had crashed. Even by Alaska standards, the mission was a remote one: the 176th’s home at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson is about 250 miles from the Canadian border, and Faro sits another 250 miles inside the Yukon Territory.
The Guard’s 210th Rescue Squadron launched an HH-60 helicopter — a Black Hawk modified for rescue with long-range gas tanks and a hoist — carrying two pararescue specialists from the 212th RQS. As is typical for Alaska Guard missions, an HC-130 tanker from the 211th RQS escorted the helicopter as it flew for air-to-air refueling.
The helicopter reached the crash site and picked up both survivors, then flew to Faro. After turning the survivors over to Canadian authorities, the crew found that the HH-60 had developed mechanical issues serious enough to ground it until maintenance could be performed — news that started a mini-airlift from JBER to two different Canadian towns over the next week.
But while that helicopter waited for parts in Canada, missions continued in Alaska. On Jan. 30, an HH-60 with PJs on board for routine training picked up a call from a Piper Super Cub — a small plane popular in Alaska — that was suffering engine trouble about 20 miles west of Anchorage The crew spotted the plane safely on the ground and landed nearby for the PJs to investigate.
“The pilot was still troubleshooting the aircraft to see if it was airworthy,” said Alaska Air National Guard Maj. Tyler Seibold. “When he realized it wasn’t, he requested a ride.”
But those two pickups — one close to home, the other international — were just warmups for Jan. 31, which began with a call from Alaska State Troopers of a snowboarder injured in an avalanche at Turnagain Pass, a popular backcountry skiing area about 40 miles southeast of Anchorage.
“We took off pretty quick, got to the site, and fortunately the good samaritans on-site and on snowmachines had already prepared a flat area on the side of the hill that PJs could hoist into and put their litter down,” Seibold said.
The PJs found the snowboard hypothermic but not critically as they flew toward Anchorage. Then came a second call.
“During the mission, we got reports of an aircraft sinking through the ice about 40 or 50 miles from where the HH-60 was at,” Seibold said. “After we dropped off the snowboarder at Providence Hospital, our crews came back to JBER to refuel, and our PJ team refitted with dry suits and pack rafts in case they had to investigate in open water.”
Back in the air, the helicopter pilot spoke with pilots of civilian tour helicopters who were over the crash site. The plane was in the water, but no survivors were visible.
Searching the area, they found that four people on board had decided to hike out.
“Once they got to the area where the mishap was reported, they saw four people walking about four miles from the aircraft,” Seibold said. “So they hoisted a PJ down to ask them if they were on the plane sinking in the ice, and they said, ‘Yes.’”
The PJs treated all four for different severities of hypothermia from mild to severe before hoisting them into the helicopter and returning to Anchorage.
All-hands effort to Faro
But that still left the broken HH-60 in Canada.
To get the helicopter out of Faro, officials sent a wide array of aircraft over the next week from both Army and Air Guard units, along with an active duty plane. A C-17 from the Air Guard’s 144th Airlift Squadron delivered aircrew and mechanics to the closest major runway at Whitehorse, Canada. An Alaska Army Guard CH-47 Chinook frew from JBER to Faro to deliver a load of necessary parts. Finally, an active duty C-12 Huron from the 517th Airlift Squadron, the military version of an 8-passenger Beechcraft plane, ferried people and supplies for the mission.
The HH-60 finally returned to JBER on board the C-17 on Feb. 6.
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