Mitigating risk in special missions

Risk mitigation at night

Segal loves night operations. He said the most important thing is understanding what they must do to get to the patient. Some crews don’t have night vision goggles (NVGs), he said. They often have high elevations with hot weather.

The ‘night sun’ or spotlight on the helicopter often needs to be turned off to see the elevation and terrain. “You must understand the pilot’s hover reference.

Can the aircraft perform this rescue? If we can answer questions and are all on the same page, we can do the mission

Can the aircraft perform this rescue? If we can answer questions and are all on the same page, we can do the mission.” He mentioned the credo ‘One to say no’, which assesses whether the full team is onboard with conducting the rescue. He explained that if everything looks okay, but one person says no, they won’t go.

Regarding night vision goggles, he said the entire crew should have NVGs to look out the windows to see what’s “out there”. He added: “In a 412 or a Huey, by the transmission, it’s nice and loud.” He said they call it the “hellhole” because it is in the back of the helicopter. However, it is critical to be in the back to view the hoist position and overall visibility outside the windows.

Avila said that much of his work for the Guatemalan Air Force is in aerial interdiction at night with drug cartels. He said the drug runners are flying fixed-wing aircraft coming from Colombia and Venezuela. He explained that the “narcos” are prepared to transport drugs into the jungle, often at night, and will often leave aircraft behind once they complete their task. Avila and crew are armed and prepared to mitigate challenges upon landing. They use radar to track drug flights from country to country.

Avila also shared that in Guatemala, civilian helicopters cannot fly after sundown, even for medevac. He added the Guatemalan Air Force also does not perform medevac, but the Army does. “We, the Air Force, fly the medevacs for the Army when they need it, as well as the civilian population. The helicopters provide that service more as a point of injury evacuation rather than a hospital-to-hospital transfer, usually done in fixed-wing aircraft.”

He said that with NVGs, low light is a problem, which causes depth perception issues. He said: “Certain objects can appear as shadows, but [the NVGs] give us a good capability – the narcos land in the middle of nowhere; they don’t see anything, but we do.” Sometimes, in the jungle at night, a drug runner’s vehicle will turn off its lights. Avila explained that there can be disorientation with NVGs in low light and bad weather situations. He said that although they offer value, NVGs can increase risk.

Risk mitigation in bad weather

Segal said that in bad weather, one critical qualification is experience. “It starts with your crew and the operation required. If I had a brand-new hoist operator, I might have thought twice about having the new person in this environment.” He said they may need further training before going out in the environment if they are on a special weapons and tactics (SWAT) team or if the pilot or hoist operator is new. “Bad weather, mitigation, and risk come down to crew and comfort level,” he said.

Avila said that the northern part of Guatemala is undeveloped and needs helicopter support to get food to troops. They have two seasons in the country: dry season and wet season. There are concerns for either season. In the wet and rainy seasons, they experience hurricanes and tropical storms beginning in June. Avila said that often entails rooftop and hoist rescues of stranded personnel and others.

Ash can blow up into the helicopter’s windshield, blocking vision.

In the dry season and winter, they have wildfires (volcanos are more of a year-round problem, along with earthquakes) and other sources. They conduct Bambi Bucket operations and training. Avila said they get a big earthquake every four to five years, which causes an outcome of reconnaissance missions. He added: “Also, [we conduct] personnel and cargo transport and resupply if the quake was bad enough to disrupt communication lanes.”

Avila also talked about using a Bambi Bucket during fire season, which is common. He said a big risk in that scenario is flying over a brownout area, where the fire has burned the landscape to ash. The ash can blow up into the helicopter’s windshield, blocking vision. He said they must be very careful as they seek out nearby water sources because of that risk.

Risk mitigation in difficult terrain

According to a company spokesperson, Garmin avionics can be found in many of the latest helicopter models. Additionally, Garmin avionics are certified for retrofitting into various Part 27 visual flight rules (VFR) helicopters. Regarding challenging terrain, they suggest: “Garmin offers several products and technologies that can aid in terrain awareness. Our Helicopter Terrain Awareness and Warning System (HTAWS) can provide visual and aural advisories if there is inadequate terrain and/or obstacle clearance ahead (based on the projected flight path).”

They added: “Garmin Helicopter Synthetic Vision Technology (Garmin HSVT) can create a depiction of ground and water features, airports, obstacles, traffic, and more on the primary flight display. Our radar altimeters can also provide height above ground level (AGL) readings over various terrain types.”

Even with assessments, people do risky things and make bad decisions, which can impact the helicopter crew and EMTs working to rescue them

Segal shared that the terrain is something that isn’t known until the crew arrives onsite for the rescue. “When you show up on duty, you do all your inspections – check aircraft, check gear, and all medical equipment.” He said people joke about the EMS job as “‘Earning Money Sleeping’, but when you are part of that crew, I get paid for what I can do. There’s an expectation that all the parameters are there.” He explained: “Someone fell 50 feet on the side of the cliff; pilots are doing fuel calculations, looking at the terrain, and all the details are assessed.” But even with the assessments, Segal said people do risky things and make bad decisions, which can impact the helicopter crew and EMTs working to rescue them.

How new technology can help

Segal talked about the Vita Rescue System and Litter Attachment (VRS-LA) dramatically changing the safety outlook with hoist operations. He said: “The hoist operator and the pilot work together hand in hand.”

The hoist operator and the pilot work together hand in hand

He said their products mitigate risk because the VRS “eliminates the downwash effect with a basket or litter and the recovery. Once it reads the data points, it goes from 0–140k rpm in a second to get it plumb and into the aircraft. It defies all logic – no more oscillation, in seconds. It will mitigate and eliminate the risk.”

As a long-time hoist operator, Segal said the new technology is outstanding, but added: “The biggest factor of the accidents is all human factors. Can you eliminate that? No, but can you mitigate it? Don’t be afraid to embrace the technology; it is not telling the world you can’t do something.”

From a tech standpoint, Garmin said its avionics can assist “by providing navigation and communication capabilities. Select Garmin navigation products, such as our GTN 750Xi GPS/NAV/COMM, can automatically create flight plans with search and rescue patterns. Search pattern types include orbit, parallel line, expanding square, and sector search. This can help relieve pilot workload, especially with a flight control system to fly the route.”

Avila said there are two key technologies that he relies upon: his helmet and his tablet. He said the helmet allows him to communicate with the crew; the tablet is how he navigates and updates the flight with notes. He uses a Samsung Galaxy tablet with Garmin Pilot installed. “The helicopters have a mix of Garmin G500 and G1000 systems as well as Astronautics Badger Pro+ systems on the Bell 412EPX, 429 and 212,” he said.

The importance of crew communication

Segal spoke about obstacles to success with this type of work. He said: “When you start in aviation, you find it hard to speak up. You finally have a seat at the table… and it is like day one all over again; you are the new guy. Learning and getting the comfort level to speak up and ask a question is tough.”

He explained that speaking up is mission-critical: “Learn to check your ego at the door. When you have a debrief, [you must share] ‘this is what happened’; ‘this is what we can do differently’. It is about getting home to your family.”

Avila commented on the importance of communication during troop transport. He said there was a situation where they’d done a passenger brief with rappelling. There was a carabiner that was tossed from one passenger to another and ended up going into the rotating blades of the helicopter. They had to shut down the helicopter to check blade damage. He said there’s always a risk when non-crew passengers are in the helicopter, and communication about rules is key.

Communication with crew and passengers and proper use of new technology is key

In summary

Across countries, risks exist in bad weather, nighttime, terrain, equipment, and crew. Communication with crew and passengers and proper use of new technology is key. In some locations, the risks of weather and terrain can be more severe, as in Guatemala (which also has the risk of drug cartels and criminal activity). In most situations, training, technology, and communication mitigate risk for those putting their lives on the line to serve others. Ultimately, the crew must be trained, be willing to speak up, and finally stand up for themselves as a team in extreme rescue scenarios.