Helicopter Rescue, what would be acceptable to take from aboard?

[Checkswrecks]

I've known and spoken with some of the incredibly brave rescue swimmers and pilots in the USCG, Sheriff, State Police, and military. They have gotten us into places that were pretty amazing with their skills too. First thing they always say is that every rescue is different, second thing is that they are always fuel and weight limited so WILL not argue with somebody risking THEIR entire crew, and third is they win every argument in the end because they will not argue. Even if it means leaving without you. It will be your choice but they are not going to debate beyond yes or no, and it will be a right NOW decision for the rest of your life. Remember that last part if you are ever in the situation.

Plan on only whatever is in your pockets or dry suit and they will want your hands to be free. You'd most likely be OK with hard drives or even a laptop inside your dry suit but if they are forced to use a sling rather than a basket, items in the area of your chest are going to be painfully digging into your upper body and it could suck to be you if they are small with hard corners. Absolutely anything beyond that is up to the swimmer who will have more leeway IF seas are calm, IF the helo has the weight capability, and IF it is a basket rescue. When you try to tie/foul something to yourself or argue, his/her knife will cut away anything you may have.

[Franziska]

OK, I got it, and no, I would never even consider argueing with rescue personnel. Neither would I consider leaving the boat unless it's sinking or breaking apart.

I'll take 2x 2.5" drives inside the survival suit.
They are small enough to fit easily and they have 5TB space each.

Hope to never have to do this!!

[Cadence]

I'm sorry, even worrying about stored data seems very short sighted. You have endangered others lives and ton of money to save you. What could be that important on a PC?

[tankersteve]

I have a small drysack backpack that will fit under a Type 1 life jacket. I don't think it is unreasonable to have that with me, if this is a very deliberate evac/rescue. Certainly the weight will be less than 5 lbs, and in the water, it will have some positive buoyancy. So I'm thinking critical documents (passport, ship log/documentation, insurance, etc), computer HD backup, phone w/ charger, meds, wallet. Low profile, dry, and under my life jacket, where a rescue ring won't interfere.

Tankersteve

[Franziska]

Very simple, your chance to restart your business after you have lost everything else.
Not a big issue if you have tons of money, but if you have not, than it can give you a much better chance to restart.

As stated several times it's first save the folks on board, than save the boat. If that fails in the worst case scenario, safe your bum and if you have a chance you documents and crucial data.

Obviously the latter point is only important to people who work predominantly with data on a computer.
If it's in your grab bag, that's helpful.

Btw. This was just a question what is acceptable to the actual guys involved in such operations not a question of whether someone thinks certain data is important or not.

Originally Posted by Cadence

I'm sorry, even worrying about stored data seems very short sighted. You have endangered others lives and ton of money to save you. What could be that important on a PC?

[Group9]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

You did the OPBAT thing?
Our sister unit was the one that crashed the UH-60 with the wives aboard.

Ooh. Yeah, that was bad. But, yeah, I did a short tour there.

That unit was still there (it was the 101st, right?) when I was there.

They were only based at Georgetown, when I was there, and although I was at their base a couple of times, I never flew with any of them. I was in Great Inagua for my TDY tour there, and flying with the Coasties.

One of our USCG pilots was an Apache pilot who had just left the Army and transferred over as HH-60 pilot. First name Mike, I don't remember anything else! But, he was the only guy who kind of close to my age, so I hung out with him more.

It was a good duty!

[DeValency]

Originally Posted by Franziska

Hi,

I hope to never ever be in that situation. But, out of curiosity, say you where forced to be taken of the boat by helicopter.

Besides personal documents, are there any rules what one can take or not?
Would a 15" laptop in a waterproof float case acceptable?
Or a hard drive in a waterproof float case?

I'm getting some float cases right now in any case, but I'd like to hear from someone in the field what would be acceptable, so that I know if I better get a separate case for a separate hard-drive as it's smaller.

Thanks,

Fran

The coastguard rescue team would usually restrict anything but personal documents to be taken. Any larger object may interfere with the helicopter rescue and lift process. Guess though that anything reasonable in your pockets such as a mobile would be ok.

May we all stay always safe without any need for a rescue.

[a64pilot]

Originally Posted by Group9

Ooh. Yeah, that was bad. But, yeah, I did a short tour there.

That unit was still there (it was the 101st, right?) when I was there.

They were only based at Georgetown, when I was there, and although I was at their base a couple of times, I never flew with any of them. I was in Great Inagua for my TDY tour there, and flying with the Coasties.

One of our USCG pilots was an Apache pilot who had just left the Army and transferred over as HH-60 pilot. First name Mike, I don't remember anything else! But, he was the only guy who kind of close to my age, so I hung out with him more.

It was a good duty!

That had to be Mike Holmes, no other AH-64 guy I’m sure, if you ever run into him again, tell him Jody said Hi.
I thought Mike was going to fly Dauphins, needs of the Military I guess.

The UH-60 unit was the 2nd battalion of 24th infantry division stationed at Hunter Army airfield, my unit was 3rd battalion, we were the 64’s.
They went to beach in the Bahamas, we went to the beach in Kuwait

[Group9]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

That had to be Mike Holmes, no other AH-64 guy I’m sure, if you ever run into him again, tell him Jody said Hi.
I thought Mike was going to fly Dauphins, needs of the Military I guess.

The UH-60 unit was the 2nd battalion of 24th infantry division stationed at Hunter Army airfield, my unit was 3rd battalion, we were the 64’s.
They went to beach in the Bahamas, we went to the beach in Kuwait

The name Homes does seem familiar. If he got sent to Clearwater, it was definitely him. I'm retired now, but he was a good pilot, and a good guy. He got there about a week after I did. One of the other pilots, who was very young, would fly low and fast a lot. And, I admit, it was a little bit of thrill at first.

But, Mike was all business, and so professional, and I asked him one night why he didn't ever do the low and fast over the beach (he had to have been in his 40's, I guess at the time, same as me). He would keep it around 1500 feet minimum, or higher, all the time, on our missions.

And, I think I remember this right. He said, "Because, when something goes wrong, and you're at 1500 feet, you have some time to deal with it. At 200 feet, something goes wrong, you don't have much time to deal with it. Those young pilots haven't learned that, yet."

After that, I tried to fly with him every time.

[barnakiel]

I have a friend who flies one !



His answer is: you can take what you like - as long as it is not delaying your evac and safety of the SAR crew. Weight is a minor consideration, off course - within reason.



So basically you can take quite a lot, you simply need it all in dry-bags or rucksacks and ready to be hooked up and lifted the moment they arrive. Often they can be at your position for a limited duration only. Sometimes it is minutes.


If you have more than one bag or rucksack, you need to decide which is a primary - in case the chopper refuses any extra load. At times only one small bag goes up - with you. There is NO coming back.



In extreme cases they will take just the human crew and, time & conditions allowing, bagged/restrained small animals. They may abandon the animals - in extremis. In such extreme cases they will NOT hoist any 'luggage' ether - all your passports, cards, and otherwise must be in your pockets, vest or else in a very small SINGLE bag - for there is only one, or two trips (if you are a crew of 2). There is no coming down to the boat once you are on the chopper.



I asked him about animals too. He says animals get a ride - but they must be 'bagged' (=immobilized) first. A big and aggressive dog could be refused a ride. The idea is to lift the animal but keep it completely immobilized.



Animals have preference over any extra luggage.



By bagging he understands the animal is placed in a canvas bag except for the head, then the bag is tied. The animal can see and breathe but cannot move on its own.



Guns will not be lifted (in Spain) but I guess they could be taken along in the USA.


No sharp unprotected objects, no pyrotechnics and no liquids of any kind.



barnakiel

[barnakiel]

It is not so that 'worrying over data' is silly. It is not.


This data may be the only source of income for some of us.


Grab that laptop and put it into the rescue bag. If the crew ask you to remove it, you explain all your money is on the hdd, if they say no go - then it is no go.


Mind a small pendrive can likely store all the data you want. But there will not be time for backing up your nas.

The chopper is not at all very restricted by weight. But you need your stuff ready to be lifted the moment you arrive, and packed in rucksacks/drybags (preferably one drybag or rucksack per each crew) - NOT scattered all thru the cabin (s).


b.

[a64pilot]

USCG is a Military branch, I can’t imagine any circumstance where a Civilian would ever be allowed to carry a firearm on a Military aircraft. I can’t see that being justified, ever.
Weight depends on the aircraft, weather and distance / fuel load. Especially the little Dauphin, it was according to my understanding a very power limited aircraft.
Seahawk? Likely not so power limited, I participated in testing of the ”Firehawk” which was a US Army Blackhawk fitted with a 1000 gl water tank to fight fires, of course the tank and equipment added weight, but the water weight alone was 8340 lbs, and it could hover with a full tank.

Hover in ground effect doesn’t require near the power it does to hover out of ground effect, I assume the USCG does all their work out of ground effect.
I could hover an an average Apache with 62% power in ground effect, out of ground effect required about 85%

So if a Dauphin shows up, even with the new engines, he may be very weight constrained, especially if he’s heavy with fuel.

[Username25]

Ten of these are just for you... https://shop.westerndigital.com/prod...XCZ-1T00-GN6MA

On the other hand how much trash 10TB should hold is beyond my brain capacity to process.

[AKA-None]

Here’s a thought. If you can’t afford to lose the stuff on your boat then do not take your boat where you could lose your stuff.

There fixed it for you.

[Franziska]

Barnakiel, spot on.
Thank you for both answers.

I'm running regular backups on two separate disks. So, one can always be in the grabbag.

Regarding delays, the moment you have made that dreaded call you are prepping to be taken off, in most cases it will be some time until they arrive on scene.

Ideally one should always have a small grabbag ready when under way. Docs, money and the back up drive inside.
We do not always do that in good weather, but, we should, at least if bad weather is approaching.

Originally Posted by barnakiel

It is not so that 'worrying over data' is silly. It is not.


This data may be the only source of income for some of us.


Grab that laptop and put it into the rescue bag. If the crew ask you to remove it, you explain all your money is on the hdd, if they say no go - then it is no go.


Mind a small pendrive can likely store all the data you want. But there will not be time for backing up your nas.

The chopper is not at all very restricted by weight. But you need your stuff ready to be lifted the moment you arrive, and packed in rucksacks/drybags (preferably one drybag or rucksack per each crew) - NOT scattered all thru the cabin (s).


b.