Poor visibility. Strong winds. Heavy fog. Even by the standards of the pilots and rescue teams of the California Air National Guard’s 129th Rescue Wing, a night mission last week to a fog-covered ocean liner was considered “high risk.”
“The mission was approved as a ‘high-risk’ mission going out the door, which is pretty rare for us,” said Air Force Lt. Col. Ben Copley, a helicopter pilot with the 129th Rescue Wing. “This person was probably going to die today if they didn’t get picked up.”
The 129th aircrew and pararescue team got the call that someone on a cruise ship more than 100 miles off the coast needed an emergency medical evacuation late on Dec. 16. A 79-year-old passenger on the Ruby Princess cruise ship, more than 100 miles off\shore, was reported unresponsive, according to the Air National Guard.
The Air Force Rescue Coordination Center received the call and sent word to the 129th, which alerted the crew of HC-130 Combat King II that was already airborne on a training mission. The plane, with the 130th Rescue Squadron, flew out roughly 130 nautical miles south of San Francisco Bay to where the Ruby Princess. While the HC-130 was getting eyes on the ship, the crew and HH-60W rescue helicopter from the 129th Rescue Squadron took off from Moffett Federal Airfield, just outside San Jose. The crew included three pararescuemen from the 131st Rescue Squadron and their extensive medical kits.
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The 129th Wing’s Pararescue and aircrews often respond to crisis out at sea but last week’s rescue presented unique challenges. It was the middle of the night and a heavy layer of fog cut visibility, made worse by a nearly moonless night. The Ruby Princess was lit up, but flying out to it was tricky. The helicopter crew flew using night vision goggles, navigating the HH-60W through heavy winds to get to the ship in the early hours of Dec. 17. Photos shared by the California Air National Guard show the cruise ship’s light casting an unearthly glow through the fog.
“We trained to find the boat. We trained to shoot an approach, to hold a stable hover, to hoist the PJs off the boat. We trained to do it all on night vision goggles,” Copley said. “We don’t train to do it inside a fog bank.”
After reaching the ship, the helicopter flew low over it, hoisting the pararescuemen onto the ship. The pararescue crew spent about an hour performing initial treatment on the woman and preparing her for the flight home, which included a hoist off the deck up to the hovering helicopter. The crew then flew to San Jose to take her to a hospital.
It was actually the second time in four months that U.S. forces flown to the same cruise ship for medical evacuations. In late August, the U.S. Coast Guard, along with its Canadian counterpart and the Royal Canadian Air Force, rescued two passengers from the Ruby Princess, while it was more than 140 nautical miles off of the coast of Washington state.
