Yakima, WASHINGTON -- On April 7, 2024, a phone rings in the U.S. Army Air Ambulance Detachment operations office, or “Yakima DUSTOFF,” based at Yakima Training Center, Wash., requesting assistance for an ongoing search and rescue in Yakima County. The call is from the Washington State Emergency Operations Center: a skier who was lost and, while attempting to reach safety, had fallen over a partially frozen waterfall, breaking ribs, sustaining internal bleeding, and was now close to hypothermia and shock.
The on-duty aircrew reacted quickly and departed the Yakima Training Center at 11:50 p.m. local time for the injured skier’s reported location near White Pass, Wash.
“The patient was badly injured; he was stuck in heavy deadfall and heavy wet snow. Yakima County Search and Rescue were with him, but they did not have the resources to move the skier to safety, so they requested a high-powered helicopter with a hoist. Weather was excellent, but flying in the mountains is always challenging,” said Chief Warrant Officer 3 Rick Corley, a pilot in command of the mission. “When we arrived at the patient’s location, there was no suitable landing area due to the tall trees and terrain. We deployed our flight paramedic by hoisting him approximately 170 feet down from the hovering helicopter.”
“It took us two tries to maneuver into position and lower me and my medical equipment to the ground,” said the aircrew’s critical care flight paramedic, Sgt. 1st Class Travis McConkey. “Once I got to the ground, I sunk into chest-deep snow and had to climb out with help from the search and rescue volunteers on scene to reach our patient.”
McConkey raised the patient into the helicopter on its hoist while remaining on the ground to control the litter with a rope, preventing it from spinning. Once the patient and paramedic were onboard the aircraft, the crew continued their flight 15 minutes to the Yakima Hospital.
“We are here to save lives,” said Maj. Alec DeGroat, USAAAD commander. “Our ability to perform missions like these demonstrates the professionalism and dedication of our aircrews,”
The detachment’s mission is to provide aeromedical evacuation support to the Yakima Training Center. When able, the detachment responds to civilian rescue requests through the DoD’s Defense Support to Civil Authorities authorization, and the unit’s capabilities make it an asset to assist civilian authorities in the remote terrain of Washington’s mountains.
The unit is outfitted with the UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter, and each crew consists of two pilots, a flight paramedic, and a crew chief. Their onboard medical equipment is comparable to a civilian ambulance: a defibrillator, medications, ventilator, oxygen, cervical collars, and stretcher. However, the aircraft is modified with an external rescue hoist, a vertical winch system with a high-strength steel cable, allowing the crew to extract patients from terrain where the helicopter cannot land.
The detachment has been stationed in Yakima since 2007, and over the past five years, the unit has completed over 40 DSCA rescue missions, saving over 50 patients’ lives. They generally receive 10 to 15 requests for rescue per year, and most rescue calls are for skiers, hikers, rock climbers, snowmobiles, and ATV riders. The detachment is only called for civilian assistance when the mission exceeds the capabilities of every available civilian agency.
The unit’s achievements include earning recognition for the highest altitude rescue hoist operation conducted in the Army and being recipients of six DUSTOFF Association awards over the past two years.
More information and media related to the detachment can be found on the 16th Combat Aviation Brigade’s Facebook page and on Reddit at https://www.reddit.com/r/16thCAB/
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