Coast Guard Foundation honors Elizabeth City aircrew

Thursday, October 7, 2010

Posted by: LT Connie Braesch

6034 in Times Square

The 6034 aircrew of LT Anthony DeWinter, LT Thomas Huntley, AST1 Edwin Hannah and AET2 Brandon Critchfield, pose with their spouses in Times Square, New York, after being awarded the Foundation's Award of the Year. Photo courtesy of LT Thomas Huntley.

Stranded 350 miles from land, the Element Quest spent days being tossed about in ten-foot seas – rudderless and out of radio range. Without an EPIRB, the only hope for the three sailors aboard was that their satellite phone call was heard and passed on to the Coast Guard. It is hard to imagine the thoughts going through their minds when they first knew their call had been heard as they saw a Coast Guard rescue helicopter hovering above, but their rescue will be forever remembered thanks to the Coast Guard Foundation.

Earlier this week, the Coast Guard Foundation honored the crew of CG-6034, the rescue helicopter that hoisted the Element Quest’s sailors to safety, at its annual awards banquet. The aircrew of LT Anthony DeWinter (aircraft commander), LT Thomas Huntley (co-pilot), Petty Officer 1st Class Edwin Hannah (rescue swimmer), and Petty Officer 2nd Class Brandon Critchfield (flight mechanic) pushed their Jayhawk helicopter beyond its limits and had to rely on their training, and the skills of both the Navy and other Coast Guard units to save the sailors aboard Element Quest.

The search to find the proverbial “needle in a haystack” started when just days into a journey from Nova Scotia to Bermuda, the Element Quest encountered harsh conditions and suffered significant damage that left her without steerage hundreds of miles offshore.

Her crew radioed for help, but she was too far offshore for anyone to hear the call. In desperation, a sailor aboard the Element Quest made a satellite phone call to a friend and left a voice mail. The message was broken and barely readable but the end of the message was clear – “call the Coast Guard.”

Watchstanders at the District 5 Command Center launched an HC-130 Hercules long-range search and rescue plane, but the aircrew had a massive search area from Nova Scotia to Bermuda. As the aircrew flew over the enormous search area, they heard a faint mayday call over VHF Channel 16. Using their direction finding capabilities, the aircrew flew directly over the Element Quest, 350 miles east of Cape Hatteras, N.C.

Finding the vessel proved to be only half the battle though, as the Hercules aircrew learned a sailor on board had a potential spinal injury. A medevac was needed, but due to the Element Quest’s distance offshore, it was outside the range a Coast Guard rescue helicopter can fly.

As the Hercules stayed on scene, the Coast Guard coordinated with Naval 3rd Fleet Command to stop flight operations on board the USS Eisenhower, situated 175 miles offshore, so an MH-60 Jayhawk rescue helicopter could land and refuel on the missile carrier’s deck.

Receiving the Award of the Year

The Coast Guard Foundation awarded the Award of the Year to the aircrew of the 6034 at the 30th Annual Salute to the Coast Guard dinner in New York. Photo courtesy of LT Thomas Huntley.

“A deck landing qualification is essential training for pilots, and most of the time it is on a Coast Guard platform,” said Huntley. “That training played dividends on this rescue.”

With the Eisenhower in position, Air Station Elizabeth City launched CG-6034 to conduct the medevac and rescue the sailors. After refueling, the 6034 aircrew launched from the decks of the Eisenhower with a Navy flight surgeon aboard and arrived overhead the foundering sailing vessel. On scene, the aircrew was faced with ten-foot seas, 30-knot winds, heavy rain and minimal visibility.

The damaged boat’s inability to steer added to the dangers, and the aircrew constantly reassessed the mission’s risks. Hannah, the rescue swimmer, was lowered and found his footing aboard the sailing vessel’s deck as he began to cut through rigging to create a recovery area for a rescue basket.

Each time the basket was lowered, the trail line that assists in lowering the basket would catch in the stinging winds, pulling the basket and forcing the helicopter to back off. After several attempts to lower the rescue basket, it became clear that a rescue directly from the deck would be too risky.

“After I did an assessment of the injured crewmember I found that they still had feeling in their arms and legs,” said Hannah. “Instead of providing more risk to the crew, and because the survivor was able to move, we knew the best call was to hoist the survivors from the water.”

Hannah entered the water and one by one the three sailors were hoisted and brought safely into the 6034’s cabin where the Eisenhower’s flight surgeon provided medical aid.

Heading westward the 6034 had one last stop to make before they could be back on land, as they refueled once again aboard Eisenhower.

As spectacular a mission the rescue of the Element Quest turned out to be, it is a glimpse of just one of hundreds of search and rescue cases every year that begins with a call for help and ends in the safety of a rescue helicopter’s cabin.

“I just happened to be on duty on the night the case happened,” said Huntley. “I was just doing my job and I am proud of the crew. All those hours of training pay off when you can go out and save lives.”

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  • Doug Douglass

    Outstanding and well done…Semper Paratus

    D Douglass PH2 3rd District 64/68

  • Bill Meahan

    Bravo Zulu 6034 You are a great example of the courage and excellence of Coastie helo crews. Hats off to the crew of the Eisenhower as well for their skill in assisting 6034 on this rescue.

  • http://facebook MarioAdams

    Coasties are the greatest….

  • Admiral Bob Papp

    To the Crew of CG 6034:

    “We have heroes in our midst…”

    That Times Square picture above is a nice touch. It was an honor for me to meet you guys and your wives at the dinner.

    “This is our chosen profession…this is our way…this is what we do. We are Coast Guardsmen.”

    With greatest respect,

    Admiral Bob Papp
    Commandant

  • Victor

    Ditto what Bob said.
    Way cool!

  • David B

    Another job well done! Thank you USCG for the service you give to our country. God speed!

  • The silent majority

    Great job by all. But once again i see we extend ourselves beyond our limits and overlook the rules. Thought it was frowned upon by refueling to extend our 300 nm capabilities. Guess in the order of good business we forget that. Explains why our safety of flight record is slowly sliding the wrong way. If this crew were to not make the rescue, how would it look to the public and the rest of aviation?

  • AMTCS Pete MacDougall

    Gentlemen,
    Congratulations on a job very well done! (The picture with the city lights behind IS a real keeper!) I can tell you that you make many proud, both present and past, with your dedication and courage.
    My best regards to you and your CG Families,
    PMac

  • Dan Morisset AETC-Ret.

    Crew of 6034 BZ!! LT DeWinter, nice to see you coming into your own. Nice job, always knew you were a keeper.
    Thanks for standing the watch.

    Dan

  • LTJG Stephanie Young

    The silent majority,

    We reached out to LCDR Walter L. Horne, the H-60 Platform Manager, and he provided us the below insight:

    “What this aircrew did was well within all policy and procedures and is performed on a somewhat regular basis.

    The H-60 helicopter is not allowed to HIFR (helicopter in flight refueling) from a cutter in order to extend the range of the aircraft to a point where a safe landing cannot be executed to a ship or to land. HIFR is typically used in cases where it is unsafe for a helo to land, i.e. pitch and rolls or flight deck not rated/qualified to land the particular type of helo.

    This crew, however, did not HIFR as they landed on an aircraft carrier. Landing on an aircraft capable vessel is allowed to extend the range of the helo, as long as the range is not exceeded that allows the helo to return to a ship or land for landing (This is because the aircraft can come back and land on the ship if something happens to the fueling system).

    This crew utilized their training and performed superbly and within all safety and policy guidelines.”

    Very Respectfully,
    LTJG S. Young
    Coast Guard Public Affairs

  • LT Farr

    From a Fifth District Command Center perspective, this was one of my favorite and “first” SAR cases as a newly qualified SAR controller. From the beginning of the case, it was very frustrating to have very little information to go off of while only being able to listen to the distorted voice mail left on the reporting parties Blackberry smartphone located in Canada. After some time we were able to get the voice mail forwarded to my smartphone to e-mail the file to the command center’s stand along computer. From there we converted the Blackberry file into a standard WAV extension so, that the GoldWave software could open up the file to allow for voice/data manipulation. With thanks to OSCS Harsch, we were able to determine an approximate position that might correspond along with the intended voyage towards Bermuda to launch the C-130 to begin its initial search. Still the only part of the call that was crystal clear was end end where they said, “Call the Coast Guard.” Two hours after being relieved from watch and making an educated guess on their last known position, I went home to later find out that evening that the C-130 had made contact with the distressed sailing vessel and that a HH-60 Jayhawk was enroute to affect the rescue.

    Months later when I talked to LT DeWinter about the case, I was surprised to learn that he and his crew were the ones that completed the sortie. This is a case out of many that I’ll always remember. Bravo Zulu to all those involved.

  • Rodger Petersen

    Thank you for your service. You folks have brought honor on the service.
    One pesky little thing, if the CG were equipped properly this rescue would have been easier. I had the opportunity recently to inspect a canadian CG Cormorant…now that’s a rescue helicopter. What are the chances Admiral?

  • Carlos Martinez, CWO4, USCG (Ret)

    To the crew of the Jayhawk, well done! As a former SAR Controller, we took great pride in being involved coordinating similar rescues! I remember many days or nights walking out of the command center after such mission. Be proud shipmates, because we are! BZ!