On March 31, 1980 (the 4th Full Moon of 1980, 2nd Blue Moon) I had to accompany a Medevac from Prudhoe Bay to Anchorage, AK. Poor patient had a crushed chest. We were flying in an ERA Aviation Lear 25 that had been modified so it could load basket stretchers. It is 625 air miles to Anchorage from Prudhoe and normally takes 75 minutes. It was a gorgeous clear night, smooth flying, and Mt. McKinley was beautiful in the moonlight. At 45 minutes into the flight I could see the lights of Anchorage through the windscreen. I went forward and asked Oly the pilot how we got here so quickly. “Oh, we’ve got a bit of a tailwind. Go aft and make sure everything is strapped down because its going to get bumpy on the way in.” We passed through a thin wispy layer of cloud and the rodeo was on. After two severe negative G downdrafts Oly dove for the deck and I could see the whitecaps of Cook Inlet out the starboard cabin windows as we approached. We were so low we had to climb to land at Anchorage and had traveled 625 miles in 59 minutes. We had passed out of the jet stream into the winter “wind event” that was buffeting the airport with 125 mph crosswinds. If I never fly in anything like that again I’m OK with it.
Did the pt survive?
I had to take a xanax after reading that.
I was stationed at Fort Wainwright, near Fairbanks, in 84-86. I was a Huey crew chief, my unit was the 283rd Medivac, they were reformed under another Blackhawk unit from Hawaii I think. Anyway, we flew a lot, in bad weather and good, our take off and landing wind speed restriction was 30 knots. We flew many times with ground winds under 30 knots, but in the air, flying less than 10,000 ft, mostly in the 2000 to 3000 ft range, and around the mountains, we encountered wind speeds in excess of 50 to 60, that was a real rodeo in a helicopter, so I know a little about how rough that flight of yours was. I don’t think I would’ve made your flight without painting the inside of the plane with my lunch.