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Detachment #32, Central Air Rescue &
Recovery Center
Webb, A.F.B., Texas
"A TYPICAL LOCAL BASE RESCUE"
Thomas C. Seebo
Copyright ©1999
All Rights Reserved
Thomas C. Seebo
Reprinted with permission from the
May 1999 ARA newsletter.
The alarm bell rings. There is no
indication that this one is to be different from most of the other 250 scrambles
of the year. The pilot starts the H-43B; the Firefighters climb aboard donning
their asbestos clothing, the crew chief readies the fire suppression kit (FSK)
for the helicopter hook-up.
(Elapsed time--one minute.) The
H-43B crew is airborne; the FSK is slung beneath on the cargo hook; and the
fire-fighting rescue team is ready for action.
The helicopter proceeds to cross the
inside runway, using care to avoid interference with the T-37 traffic using that
runway. Tower Traffic Control clears Rescue to cross the inside, and advises the
T-38 solo single-engine emergency (one engine out) is on initial approach to
Runway One-Seven Right. Lieutenant Fred Glover acknowledges, for now the Rescue
crew has visual contact. The pitch and pattern of the T-38 looks normal----but
WAIT----the landing gear isn't fully down!
(Hope he remembers the emergency gear
down procedure!) "Say Keith, that boy is turning an awful low base
leg------let's GO------he can't help but CRASH!!")
The Rescue crew is now fully in action.
The T-38 is on the ground. Parts are flying. The dust is thick! (There's a
spot that looks good for the Fire Suppression Kit)---"Let's set her
down!" (Just like the training fires.)
The Firefighters deploy the hose of the
FSK, help the student pilot away from his aircraft, and smother the smoke just
starting around the battery compartment of the T-38.
(The elapsed time since the crash is
now just one minute.)
Lieutenant Keith H. Ricks, the helicopter
copilot, is administering first aid to the injured student. Lt. Grover, the
pilot, lands the H-43B and, in seconds, the injured student is aboard and on the
way to the Base Hospital---the short hop to the hospital takes forty-five
seconds.
The control tower has notified the
hospital, and Lt. Ricks, with the injured student, is met at the Emergency Room
door.
(Total elapsed time since the crash
is now three minutes.)----Nothing to do now but retrieve the Firefighters,
Airmen Robert L. Duncan and Charles L. Middleton. The Rescue crew chief,
SSgt Mixon, is getting the second FSK ready---the crash convoy is arriving at
the crash site---so, back to the alert room!
Training and efficiency are fully in
evidence, as demonstrated by the prompt and efficient manner in which this
Rescue crew performed. And this mission is a classic example of what led to the
procurement of the H-43B rescue system----a system which involves carrying
Firefighters and fire-suppressing foam to an aircraft crash, laying down of a
path to the downed aircraft while the rotor downwash assists in keeping the path
open, at the same time supplying breathable fresh air to both the downed aircrew
and the rescuing Firefighters.
This mission actually occurred, at Webb AFB, Texas, on 2
July 1962.
Detachment 32, Central Air Rescue Center, is a typical illustration of
a
rescue-motivated unit. Rescue crews willingly put up with a lengthy
and
rigorous daily alert-duty schedule; the mission always is placed above
personal desires and comforts.
The rescue mission is not simple, but a mission that
involves long
periods of suspenseful waiting. The opportunity to effect a rescue
will
eventually present itself. If every effort is made to maintain a ready
alert
status, when the situation arises, a timely rescue will be effected.
This
occasional mission also acts as a unit revitalization---the feeling of
self
satisfaction emerges from the knowledge that all aspects of the
mission
were accomplished in the best possible manner. Professionalism is the
keynote!
The dedicated personnel of the Air Rescue Service who man
the
Local Base Rescue detachments are the men who carry on the time-
honored tradition: "These things we do...that others may
live."
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MISSION NARRATIVE, DET 32, CARC, #249, 2
JULY 1962
On control tower notification, the H-43B was scrambled
at 1854, on a T-38 single-engine emergency. The rescue crew commander observed
the impending crash and was almost at the crash site as the T-38 came to rest.
The crew chief, at the alert pad, recorded the time of the crash as 1907.
Mission 249 was terminated at 1918, when the alert crew returned to the scramble
pad. In the eleven-minute interval between crash and ramp-out, the H-43 crew had
assisted the injured student pilot away from the aircraft, applied foam to the
smoking area of the crash, gave first aid attention to a cut arm, evacuated the
injured student pilot into the hospital, returned to the crash site to pick up
the Firefighter crew members, and returned to the alert pad, where the crew
chief had the second fire suppression kit ready for the next emergency. The
crash occurred one mile from the approach end of the runway.
Foam was used on the aircraft because smoke was
detected emitting from beneath the engine compartments and from the
radio-battery area. Smoke quickly diminished as the smothering foam thwarted a
highly probable fire. The foam was applied within one minute of the crash.
Alert crew:
Pilot:
Lt. William F. Glover
Co-pilot: Lt.
Keith H. Ricks
Firefighters: A/1c Robert L. Duncan
A/2c Charles L. Middleton
Crew Chief: SSgt Morris L. Mixon
s/ Captain Thomas L. Seebo,
Commander, Det 32, CARC
This Page Last Updated: January 22, 2007
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