Another busy day
The Miramar airshow has been going for the past few days which places Montgomery Field's airspace under a temporary flight restriction controlled by the Miramar tower. Right before the Blue Angels went on we were dispatched to Mission Bay to help get a person off the jetty rocks. Calling Montgomery tower, they coordinated a very quick clearance for us and got us out quickly. Over the scene we found a person had overturned their sail boat and was with a Lifeguard on the jetty. The wind had been blowing pretty strong all day and the seas were kind of rough which made it hard for the Lifeguards to get the person off of the jetty safely, so we were asked to hoist the victim off of the jetty. The victim had an injured arm but was not too bad off. We lowered our medic to the victim and he confirmed the victims physical condition and made preparations for the hoist. The difficult part of a hoist along the water is that there is very little in the way of references and all of the water moving in the reference that you do have can play tricks on you. You might think that you are holding a point in space when you are actually moving with the current, as an example. Fortunately the victim was on the side of the channel that with the prevailing winds allowed me to see the jetty on the opposite side of the channel, not the best of references, but it was better than no reference at all!
Selecting a higher altitude (200 feet) for the hoist to keep the rotor wash off the personnel on the jetty we had to position the helicopter about 30 feet in front of the medic (when picking them up) to get the hook to him because the wind was blowing  the hook that far behind us. Once he had the hook I had to back the helicopter up so that when we lifted him and his patient off the rocks they would come straight up and have as little swing as possible. It all came together and went smoothly. Another fun call for this tour done! just a few more days and I can head for home to get ready for the snow.
- posted by mike @ 10:27 PM