NAS Fallon SAR Team Rescues Hiker off ledge

After their pagers activated at 3:12 a.m., it took less than an hour for the crew to scramble and pack their bags. Their one-hour trip took them to the Ritter Range within the Ansel Adams Wilderness in the Sierra National Forest, which lies southeast of Yosemite and west of Mammoth Lakes.
HM3 Sarah Tait, the newest member of the Longhorns, said they received a report of a hiker with chest pains and unknown injuries. Being the medical technician on board, she packed her supplies and was prepared for any number of medical emergencies.

Using their night vision goggles and GPS coordinates, pilots Cdr. Bill Davis and Lt. Jim Smith arrived at the mountain range within one mile of the injured hiker. Once the hiking party was located, the helicopter circled twice before landing on a small flat bluff about 400 feet above the hiker, who was resting on a ledge.

Senior Chief Karl Rokosz worked his way down to the injured hiker first. The hiker, an adult chaperone for a school group, was flanked by two people and bundled in a sleeping bag on a ledge. Tait initially wanted to use a vest to hoist the man into the waiting helicopter, but after assessing the scene, she decided the litter would be safer.

She determined the hiker wasn’t suffering a heart attack but did have possible broken ribs from a fall and was in danger of hypothermia.
During this time, Rokosz hiked back to the helicopter twice in less than ideal conditions to relay information to the pilots. Smith said around 4:30 a.m. it was 25 degrees at their altitude of 10,000 feet, and the steep climb was a 400-foot vertical scramble to the helicopter.
Once the litter was lowered to her position, Tait bundled the man carefully and climbed in with him.
“It was a short haul,” said Davis. “We just plucked them off the hill.”

Once the helicopter was free of the dangerous ledge, the litter was hoisted into the helicopter while it was in motion. The injured hiker was flown to nearby Oakhurst, Calif., where about 50 people from various first-responder agencies were waiting.
Tait said the helicopter crew was treated to breakfast by a highway patrol trooper and then refueled for the flight home. She was glad the Longhorns were able to quickly rescue the man because it was a two-day hike out of the wilderness from his location, a hike he would have been unable to make in his condition.

Davis said the rescue was “textbook,” while Tait said it was less intense than some of the training she’s been through.
The Longhorns, stationed about 400 miles away, were called because no other rescue helicopter services had the capabilities of maneuvering in the dangerous mountain flying setting. Smith said the rescue was also at an altitude that was too high for most helicopters to safely fly.
The crew was back on the ground in Fallon by 10:15 a.m. — just enough time for Davis to drive to Reno to watch his daughter’s induction ceremony into the Air Force. Tait also raced to a doctor’s appointment, which ended up being canceled.
While it was just another day’s work, the senior crewmen are proud of 27-year-old Tait, who is currently the only female SAR medical technician in the U.S. Navy. They may also be a little jealous because in Tait’s year and a half at NAS Fallon, she’s participated in three rescue events and helped save five lives.

Davis said some people spend their whole careers waiting to experience the rescue action this young woman has seen.