Helicopter mission changes as rescue tempo slows (USAF)

Air Force Links ^ | Sep 7, 2005 | Louis A. Arana-Barradas

[SandRat]

JACKSON, Miss. -- As the forced evacuation of New Orleans continues, Air Force helicopter crews here are flying fewer rescues and conducting more ferry missions from evacuee collection points.

Though aircrews still have a high operations tempo and their helicopters are flying much more than usual, it is different from the first hectic days after Hurricane Katrina left a path of death and destruction along the Gulf Coast.

“There was plenty of rescue work to go around then. You could fly over New Orleans and it was like a scene right out of a movie. There were helicopters everywhere,” said Capt. Grant Paap, an HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopter pilot.

In the first days after the hurricane, swarms of military and civilian helicopters flew over the city night and day, hoisting thousands of stranded people to safety. Some aircrews here rescued 50 or more people from rooftops on each mission. Their total is more than 4,000 rescued so far.

But there is still much work to do. More than two dozen Pave Hawk helicopters from the 347th Expeditionary Rescue Group continue missions around the clock. But things have changed.

“Now there is literally no business in New Orleans’ neighborhoods,” Captain Paap said. On his last mission Sept. 6, he said they found a few of people in their homes, but they did not want to leave.

But New Orleans officials are now forcing people to leave the city, which is still about 60-percent underwater. The fear is that people who remain in the city inundated with polluted water could fall victim to disease or armed looters. The Army Corps of Engineers said it could take three months to drain the floodwater back into Lake Pontchartrain.

Now most missions are to pick up people at staging areas. Captain Paap, from the 55th Rescue Squadron at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz., and his mixed crew, moved 21 people from collection points on the Sept. 6 mission. They flew most people of them to the New Orleans airport, but some needed immediate medical care.

“We had three people who needed medical care (who) we took to hospitals,” said the captain from Rochester, N.Y. One patient suffered a heart attack and was very ill. “I hope he made it.”

Like the evacuation of the city, rescue and evacuation efforts are more orderly now. But in the first days after the killer storm, there was minimal command and control of the hundreds of military and civilian helicopters flying over the city, the captain said.

“They dotted the horizon,” Captain Paap said. “It was amazing.”

Last week, the air space over New Orleans was so congested that aircrews had to fly “very slow and keep a good lookout” for other helicopters in the area to avoid midair collisions. All military and civilian helicopters used the same radio frequency to avoid problems.

Captain Paap said the sky over the city is still a beehive of activity. But now there is extensive command and control of the airspace. Now when helicopters fly missions, they first check in to see where somebody needs their services.

“So while we’re still taking people out of the area, the missions are different now,” Captain Paap said. “Now we’re doing a lot of transporting.”

That means aircrews -- and their helicopters -- are still flying many more missions than they fly at their home base, said Master Sgt. Robert Marchewka, a production superintendent with the 347th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron at Moody AFB, Ga.

Though the tempo has slowed, aircrews are still flying 10- to 11-hour missions day and night. The sergeant said at their home stations, most training missions last about four hours. That gives maintenance crews 10 to 14 hours to fix their aircraft before the next mission. Not so here.

“We’re putting almost 20 hours a day on these helicopters,” Sergeant Marchewka said. Once on the ground, maintenance crews get “about four or five hours to turn them around for another 20-hour day. Even in Kosovo we weren’t flying as much as we are here.”

But after 14 years in special operations -- including tours in Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan -- Sergeant Marchewka said this relief effort has been his most intense operation.

“It’s great to go to Iraq and Afghanistan because it’s always great when you’re saving somebody. But there’s a lot of sitting around and waiting over there,” he said. “Here there is no sitting around and waiting.”

To keep their aircraft flying, every unit brought maintainers. But they are all working together, even stepping in to help fix each other’s helicopters. They trade spare parts when needed. They know there is no time to waste, Sergeant Marchewka said.

“Nobody’s playing little games here,” he said. “Giving another unit a part can mean another 40 or 50 being picked up by that aircraft.”

The helicopters have been extremely reliable. Few have had problems, and most of those have been minor, Captain Paap said. That is a tribute to the skill of the maintainers.

“They have made sure we have helicopters to fly every day,” the captain said.

The maintainers live in a hangar less than 100 feet from the helicopters they work on. They can be on the flightline working on them in no time. Sergeant Marchewka said maintainers are working all day to ensure their aircraft are ready for rescue missions. It has become a matter of pride for them because they know how important their mission is.

However, the sergeant said one reason the helicopters are doing so well is because of the care they get at their home base. There, they go through many inspections because they need a lot of upkeep, he said.

“So when we bring (helicopters) out here, they can handle the abuse we’re giving them,” Sergeant Marchewka said.

Since rescue operations are beginning to taper, the deployed group is already sending some of the helicopters back to their home bases. In the meantime, those that remain continue their operations, whether it is a rescue mission or just ferrying people out of New Orleans. Each one counts, the sergeant said.

“We’re saving people,” Sergeant Marchewka said. “And even if it’s just one, that’s one more person that’s out of there.” (Capt. Megan Schafer of Air Force Print News contributed to this article.)

[SandRat]

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