News from the US Coast Guard Auxiliary

Who has not marveled at the precision and incredible capabilities of a US Coast Guard air crew when it arrives on the scene of a rescue, orbits a few dozen feet above a distressed vessel, lowers its rescue basket from the helicopter, and safely extracts people from their emergency situation? Featured in countless demonstrations and key to many successful rescues, this Coast Guard capability is the result of amazing training by the air crews. The Coast Guard makes this maneuver seem simple, but it is far from being so. You are talking about getting a moving helicopter to be perfectly positioned above a moving vessel, often with significant surf and or conditions of distress. Then drop a basket connected with a steel cable that tethers the helicopter to the moving and rocking vessel. So many things could go wrong, that the "basket drop" is a key area of training focus for the US Coast Guard. Lt. Shelley Decker of Air Station LA told us that "for many years the Air Station practiced basket drops with the LA County Lifeguard boats.

Rescue Swimmer on Deck (Photo by Stephen Lee)

But over time that practice lacked the variety of real-life emergencies, where pilots could confront vastly different vessel types and configurations". Enter the US Coast Guard Auxiliary: our operational facilities are representative of the real boating world, and "provide an ideal platform for some of the training evolutions, introducing variability which is challenging to the pilots and air-crews", continued Lt. Decker. As a result the Air Station and the Division begun a new joint training program where auxiliary crews and the Air Station practice basket drop training evolutions on a wide variety of platforms and sea conditions. Lt. Decker told us "we train and train, but if the platforms are the same it can become routine, and in our business, complacency can kill". Division Commander Al Verdi commented that this program is a "restart of a program we used to run many years ago. We had to create a completely new qualification program and put a select group of boat crews through this qualification program". The Program Qualification Manual had to be written and evolved during the weeks of training and the first group of qualified boat crews and Coxswain recently was awarded their qualifications at AIRSTALA. They were also awarded the US Coast Guard Meritorious Team

Barb De Cuir and Ray Pages,
(Photo by M. Vecchione)

Award. Flotilla members Ray Pages, Kiva Osby, Tom and Linda Tcimpidis, Barbara and Eric De Cuir were members of this elite group. "Our next target will be night operations, something the team will gradually build to as that will require a separate PQS to be developed", continued Al Verdi. Kiva Osby, when asked about the experience, remarked "the feeling and responsibility of helping the active duty do their job better is what the US Auxiliary is all about. This mission fulfilled my best aspirations towards that goal".To view a video of the Air Station activities with the US Auxiliary click here.