Pre Conference Helo

PaveHawk hoist demo
304th Combat Rescue Squadron - at last conference.
(more pics - use 'Back' to return)

For this year's conference we worked with various agencies to provide aircraft and crews for training.

As in past trainings we've had with folks like MAST, 304th and Coast Guard, we do aircraft familiarization, cold loading, hot loading and tagline operations. For the pre conference each agency had a four hour block of time available for whatever they'd like to offer.

Wven with the cancellations, the Air Ops part of the Pre Conference and Conference seemed to go fairly well.

Our hope was to bring this all together in a way that promotes a clear understanding of the various capabilities these agencies have.

Agencies who made it were: LifeFlight, Hillsboro Aviation, Coast Guard Group Astoria, 304th RQS, 36th Rescue Flight, and JL Aviation. We are very grateful for their help in making this happen!

I'll try to get some photos from the training evolutions posted here soon.

A heart felt Thank You to all who participated!

John Carlson

Below is the schedule
'02 Washington State SAR Conference Air Ops
Unit
Wed, May 15
Thur, May 16
Fri, May 17
Sat, May 18
Staff - Basic Helo
AM 0800-1200
    

SAR Flights
LifeFlight PM 1300-1700    
Yes
MAST - 54th Dustoff   Cancelled*  
No
CH-47 Chinooks Cancelled*
Maybe

Hillsboro Aviation

    
Yes
Coast Guard     AM 0800-1200
Yes
304th Combat Rescue PM 1300-1700
Yes
36th Rescue Flight     PM 1900-2200
Yes


* As you can tell, scheduling continued to change.

We'd like to thank all the particpating agencies, partiularily the private aviaiation companies that have generously donated equipment, crews and flight time for training volunteers.

Hillsboro Aviation Web site - JL Aviation - LifeFlight

E-mail John Carlson

REQUIRED Personal Protection Equipment - No exceptions.

The #1 training priority is SAFETY.

The Air Ops Staff will closely control all movements around the aircraft. Please be patient with this, while it may seem at times exessive, we will always err on the side of safety!

Helmet with 3-point chin strap

Bullard
Advent A-2

Petzel
Ecrin Roc
... or similar - strap MUST connect
on each side and in back.

Eye Protection

 Full goggles required - no safety glasses.

Full Leather Gloves
"Flight Gloves" will not work for tag line ops.

Hearing Protection

Shirt/Jacket

Must be long sleeved, and non-synthetic
(Wool, Cotton or Nomex Ok).

Pants

Must be full length, and non-synthetic
(Wool, Cotton or Nomex Ok).

Sturdy boots

Must provide good support and traction.

.

Students were encouraged to work with their search gear (radio harness, pack, etc.) around the helicopters to see what worked - and what didn't.

Contact Dave Brown, Skamania County Sheriff's Office
509/427-9490 • daveb@co.skamania.wa.us

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