Well, Sadly we had a USCG D17 HH-60J go down the other night out by Dutch Harbor on the Aleution Chain. I freighter was adrift and after severing several tow lines from tugs and it's anchor lines snapped, it was in danger of washing up on the rocks. Air Station Kodiak sent a couple HH-60J's out to Dutch Harbor and a cutter was also sent to the area with an HH-65. Most of the crewmen from the freighter had already been hoisted off the deck, with only the ship master and SAR swimmer remaining onboard. The incident aircraft had 3 aircrew onboard with 7 freighter crewmembers, when it went down. A second USCG Helo (pretty sure it was a Jayhawk) was nearby and picked up the 3 downed aircrew and one of the freighter crewmembers. The aircrew all had water survival gear on, but the freighter crewmembers only had life preservers. Thus far, none of the remaining freighter crewmembers that went down with the Helo (7 total) have been recovered (3 hour probability of survival in the 40 degree water). The weather sucked as usual here in Alaska (and especailly out on the Aleutions) with 30-40 kt winds, 20ft seas and poor visibility. Bottom line is it doesn't look good for the 7 crewmembers.
My squadron was on stand-by for the mission with two Pavehawks, PJ's and an HC-130, but we were never requested.
The SAR community I work in is very tight as some of you already know, regardless of whether you're wearing a blue bag or a green one. We're never called on to do our job when it's bluebird weather. It's always when the weather sucks. You get used to pushing things and this night was no different. A multiple night hoist recovery on NVG's from a freighter with a broken back, in 30-40 kt winds and 20 ft seas....we've been there done that, but you never really consider (or maybe admit is a better word) that you're going to have to ditch a bird.
A sad day for Alaska SAR.
![Sad [:(]](/FSM/CS/emoticons/icon_smile_sad.gif)