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56th RQS aids in rescue

USAFE News

Release Date: 3/22/2004

By JO2 Jeannette Bowles, Naval Air Station Keflavik Public Affairs

NAVAL AIR STATION KEFLAVIK, Iceland (USAFENS)- On March 12-13, the 56th Rescue Squadron, along with members of the 85th Maintenance Squadron, put their training to the test as they played a key role in the recovery efforts of a fishing trawler stranded on a sand bar off Iceland's southern coast.

The trawler, "Baldvin Thorsteinsson ER," had been beached since March 9.

The 56th RQS Commander, Lt. Col. David Duke, received a visit from the 85th Group Commander, Col. Roderick Zastrow, informing him that the Iceland Coast Guard had contacted the Iceland Defense Force with an urgent request for assistance to move salvage assistance to the stranded trawler. The 56th was tasked to provide heavy lift/sling load support to the ship.

"That day was already scheduled as a ground training day," said Lt. Col. Thomas Sexton, 56th RQS/DO. "We immediately redirected our attention to configuring the aircraft and launching the alert aircrew to provide the sling load support."

The support included the transport of heavy chains, rigging, long ropes, and chemicals to dissolve diesel fuel.

Within 30 minutes, the 56th RQS and members of the 85th MXS were ready to depart for their mission. They coordinated with the ICG who asked them to delay their launch until all of the supporting assets were in place. Once they were given the word to launch, they departed for Iceland's south coast.

Forty minutes into the flight, the helicopter suffered an engine malfunction. The aircrew implemented the required emergency procedure and returned to Keflavík.

When they landed, a second helicopter was ready, with blades turning, to depart with the aircrew.

"Whenever we launch our alert aircraft and aircrew, we do everything possible to regenerate our alert capability with a second aircraft and aircrew." said Colonel Sexton. "The aircrew immediately transferred their equipment to the spare aircraft and took off again."

When the crew arrived at the site, they conducted a face-to-face briefing with the Icelandic Coast Guard to workout the best and safest plan for completing the task.

In the end, the 56th RQS completed three lifts on Friday prior to nightfall despite the bad weather.

"We had 30 knot winds gusting to 40 knots and the seas were 20 feet," said Maj. Christopher Prejean, one of the pilots who flew the mission on Friday.

They lifted rescue equipment such as heavy moor chains and ropes from the Coast Guard's ship to the recovery tug so that the Coast Guard could help pull the trawler off the sand bar.

"The heaviest load we took over was 4,000 pounds," said Major Prejean. "We practice sling loads on occasion, but in practice we only carry about 600 pounds. This was about seven times the weight we train with."

They returned to base after their third lift. The next morning the crew returned to the recovery site to complete two more lifts of equipment.

"We had 110 percent capability to do this mission," said Colonel Sexton. "We have the right people trained following our deployment to Africa last summer. It's unusual for us to conduct sling load operations from ship to ship, but this mission was well within our capability to complete.

"It went very well," Major Prejean added. "We are an aircraft that is capable of flexing into different missions. It was a significant event and anytime we can help out, we love to."