Page 22 - InterPilot 2019 Issue 3

PAGE 22 IFALPA.ORG
Photo: Norges Røde Kors
(Norwegian Red Cross)
We, the crew on SAR 9, had been onshore and were preparing to fly back offshore
to Statfjord B, where CHC provides Search and Rescue service for Equinor [energy
company headquartered in Stavanger, Norway]. We were relaxed and had jokingly
sent our rescue man and medic out for some food so they could uphold their
readiness. The payback was that they came back still eating ice cream while we packed
the rest before flight. We were all in the helicopter, just waiting for our medic, who
was looking very intensely at his phone while walking to the helicopter. Minutes later
– after our check was complete and we started taxiing – he would tell us about the
breaking news: a cruise ship in trouble at Hustadvik. It was all over the news!
We lined up on the runway and took off. When passing 500’, the tower came up on
the radio.
“SAR 9 – you are requested to proceed directly to the cruise ship”
– there was a brief moment of silence, then we replied
“Rodger – continuing right turn directly, and canceling IFR”
The tower gave us the latest coordinates and renamed us “Rescue 9” which is the
callsign that indicates that we have priority. It was unspoken, but we all knew that this
would be a serious matter and we all went from our relaxed mode into what we could
call preparing mode.
The cabin started to plan how many could be in the seats, on the floor, what they
could expect in terms of injuries, number of patients, etc. In the cockpit, we started to
calculate the time to the cruise ship, expected available people we could take onboard,
endurance in the area, refueling areas and so forth.
The weather was showery with wind of around 50kts, so we set course VFR along the
coast and had about 1 hour and 30 minutes before arriving. We scanned the maritime
emergency frequency (CH16) and our airborne frequencies. Due to the terrain we
where relatively close before we could hear what was actually going on in the area.
When we saw the ship for the first time, I remember the silence in the helicopter. Just
for a split second we had to digest what we actually saw.
Rescue 5, the CHC SAR helicopter normally stationed on Heidrun responded, and
quickly gave us the layout of the situation: drop-off zone for the passengers, refueling
spot, and a landing area for waiting. We acknowledged and lined up behind Rescue 8,
another CHC SAR helicopter normally stationed at Florø. Recue 40 from the national
rescue service had just landed for refueling. At this point we were lined up and could
see the movements of Viking Sky and the scope of everything.
WHAT WENT RIGHT PAGE 23
We had just had a training flight the day before in 8,5-meter waves and 50kts
of wind. Not very different from these conditions. So, the tasks separately
weren’t much different than what we trained for. The big challenge was the
scale of this: the Viking Sky mission included 59 hoist cycles with older passen-
gers, and the fact that we ended up having 2 ships in distress in the same area.
We quickly briefed each other and got ready for a long night. I was flying pilot
on the hoist operations, and the pilot next to me had to keep track of passen-
gers that came onboard, check fuel, and at the same time keep an ear on the
radio. He did all that and still had capacity to tell me every time the ship rolled,
pitched or fishtailed in advance to give me a heads up before the ship actually
moved.
I was focused on the hoist operator’s guidance, keeping us safe from the ship,
and keeping the people we had in the wire safe at all times. At the same time,
I listened to the air to air channel to keep my situational awareness up to date,
and CH 16 to stay updated on the ship’s needs. The medic was the organizer
in the cabin. He had to carry some of the older passengers back in the cabin,
and he started to get tired, so on the last lift we only took 15 passengers be-
fore returning to set them off.
Photo: CHC
The workload was continuously high, and the circumstances challenging, but
we managed the stress and never felt unsafe.
The ship’s movements were also different from a ship in normal forward
movement. The waves this close to shore were both coming from the sea and
were reflected from shore, and the ships anchors were also out which all con-
tributed to the unfamiliar movements.
When we started the first lift, we quickly got into good routine and our
teamwork worked perfectly. In just 30 minutes we had 22 persons onboard
and returned to the sports hall where local emergency staff had established a
reception center. When we landed and I saw all the people that came out of
the helicopter and were taken care of, I was really impressed with the level of
commitment.
After the first lift, we still had fuel for about 1 hour and 40 minutes and one of
the other helicopters needed refueling more urgent than us, so we returned
to the established waiting area and landed. ATC had taken over a more active
role as “on scene coordinator”. They were able to give an estimate of when we
could expect to be ready for the next lift, and they quickly established a circuit
for us.