(July 19, 2018) A team of rescue workers flew a helicopter to Mount Hood on Friday, July 13, 2018. They went to help a climber at the top of the mountain. The Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office identified the climber as a 27-year-old man who called 911 from the mountain. He said he had taken a deadly amount of insulin in a suicide attempt, but he changed his mind and asked for help.
When six rescue workers reached the man at the peak, they realized they needed a chopper to help the climber off the mountain. After the chopper arrived, however, it was difficult for its pilots to find a safe place to land the large aircraft on the snow and ice. The pilots decided to try a maneuver where only the back wheels of the helicopter touch the ground.
The pilots could not see behind the helicopter, so they had to rely on other crew members to make sure the back wheels touched down on the mountain and the rotors were far enough to avoid the mountain and any rescue workers. The pilots said three team members helped guide them by radio as they flew backwards. The entire rescue was a team effort, they said.
Once the back wheels and the tail of the helicopter hit the snow, it felt stable. The plan was then to keep the nose of the aircraft as still as possible while people got on and off. Each time a person was added or subtracted from the plane, flight controls had to be adjusted. If the nose dropped too much, for example, the helicopter could have slipped down the mountain.
A 3-foot bridge was used between the mountain and the helicopter so that the climber and the rescue team could crawl onto the aircraft. It to-ok two and a half minutes. Although it was a difficult rescue mission, the pilots said they were glad the climber changed his mind about suicide and called for help instead.
Adapted from The Oregonian