Air Guardsmen fly critical equipment to wildlife refuge
2/20/2009 - MOFFETT FEDERAL AIRFIELD, Calif. (AFPN) -- California Air National Guardsmen from the 129th Rescue Wing assisted U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials Feb. 17 and 18 by transporting critically needed facility batteries to the Farallon National Wildlife Refuge, located approximately 30 miles off the shore of San Francisco in the Pacific ocean.
Two HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopters and aircrews were part of the operation to transport 48 photovoltaic batteries, each weighing 300 pounds, for the Fish and Wildlife Service.
"The Fish and Wildlife Service was having trouble getting a vehicle to make the swap," said Maj. Rhys Hunt, 129th Rescue Squadron operations officer.
Officials from the 129th RQW coordinated with the agency and managed to fit the missions into the flight schedule.
After the new batteries were delivered to the Farallon Islands, the used batteries were dropped off on Treasure Island near San Francisco for disposal. In total, the helicopters transported more than 14,000 pounds of batteries to power the lighthouse and Fish and Wildlife Service research facility workshop.
"The 129th excels when performing operations like this one ... a mission that required some out-of-the-box thinking and took us out of our normal training mode," Major Hunt said.
As an Air National Guard unit, many of the 129th RQW's past missions involved responding to state emergencies that included earthquakes, fires and floods.
Equipped with MC-130P Combat Shadow tankers and HH-60G Pave Hawk rescue helicopters, the 129th RQW aircrews have performed a wide variety of civilian search-and-rescue missions, including distressed persons aboard ships, lost or injured hikers and medical evacuations. The total number of people saved by the unit is 599.
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