Direct Deployment:

The addition of hoist capability to our rescue compliment allows us to directly deploy a rescuer to a location or victim on the hoist. 

Rappelling:

Rappelling, by definition, is a technique used to slide down a rope in a controlled fashion. A STAR Flight rescuer, wearing a harness similar to what a rock climber may wear, attaches him/herself to a friction device, commonly referred to as an “eight plate” using a carabiner. The rope is fed through the eight plate which creates friction between the rope and the device.  This friction slows the descent of the rescuer attached to the device and allows the rescuer to control exactly how fast and how far they descend down the rope. The 120 foot rope is attached to a rappel rack above the cabin door on the right side of the helicopter.

Once the decision to rappel a rescuer out of the helicopter and to a victim is made, the rope is attached to the rappel rack and the rescuer prepares for the rappel.  An appropriate altitude and hover are established, the rescuer steps out onto the skid, and once cleared by the crew chief, begins his/her descent down the rope until the he/she has reached the ground.  

Short Haul:

 Many times STAR Flight crews need to move a rescuer to a victim and/or extricate a victim out of a dangerous location, such as a cliffs edge or a victim that is located in water. In order to do this STAR Flight crews use a helicopter rescue technique called a “short haul”. This simple concept utilizes the helicopter to lift and move rescuers and victims from one location to another using a fixed rope that is attached to the cargo hook on the bottom of the helicopter.

A short haul technique may be utilized in two general rescue operations: moving the rescuer into a patients location (for instance, a rescuer may be short-hauled into a victim who is stranded on a roof of a vehicle during a flood event); or to extract the victim and rescuer together to a place of safety (this same victim is removed from the roof of the car and moved to safety, or a victim may be placed in a Baughman Bag and short-hauled with a  rescuer from a rock cliff to safety.

Using hand signals or direct radio communications, the rescuer attached to the end of the 80 foot rope signals to the crew chief above in the aircraft to raise, lower or maintain the hover that the pilot has established. Once the rescuer has secured the victim to the end of the rope or the rescuer and victim have been moved to a safe location, the helicopter will gently lower the rescuer and victim to the ground.  

When responding to a reported rescue condition, STAR Flight crews pre-rig the helicopter so that once over the scene they can quickly and effectively deploy a rescuer to the victim and then extract both to a safe location utilizing whichever method is most appropriate for the situation.

Free Fall Rescue Swimmer Deployment: 

When STAR Flight crews respond to a reported victim in the water, such as at a local lake, crews respond prepared to insert or deploy a rescuer into the water immediately if the victim is located or when crews can identify where the victim was last seen and the victim is presumed to be in the water.

Once over the victim location and the decision to deploy a swimmer has been made, the helicopter descends to approximately 10 feet off the water and forward air speed is slowed to approximately 10 knots (approximately 12 miles per hour). As the pilot accomplishes this, the rescuer is moved to a seated position in the right rear door and prepares to push him/herself out the door and into the water below. Once the proper airspeed, altitude and position over the water have been established, the rescuer is given a signal to deploy by the crew chief and the swimmer pushes him/herself out of the aircraft and into the water below. The goal is to get a rescuer to a victim’s side as fast and safe as possible. 

This method of deployment is only done in still-water rescues where water depth can be verified to be of safe depth (ie- boat or jet ski wrecks in the middle of the lake).  This method is not used to deploy swimmers into fast moving flood waters, also referred to as swift water. This is due to the extremely dangerous and unpredictability of the swift moving water.