So Others May Live Flexibility is a Capability By LT Joey Curtis, USN
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hile at HSC-12 on a plane guard flight, a Department Head once asked me, “What does HSC add to the Navy?” While circling on the port side of USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76), I thought for a while and rambled off the first things that came to mind: search and rescue (SAR) and logistics. After the two guesses, he cut me off and confidently said, “flexibility.” At the time, I mildly agreed and didn’t give it much more thought. However, upon reflection, I now know that he was right, and the idea of flexibility gets directly to the heart of what naval helicopter flying is all about. In the Navy, the service that invented the idea of a multi-mission platform, helicopters have taken the concept to its theoretical limit and have become the 33-tool Swiss Army Knife of our Fleet. A single helicopter (HSC or HSM) can move cargo, pull a downed aviator out of the water, reconnoiter a ship, fire a missile, and land on an unprepared spot on a mountain without changing a single component on its airframe and potentially without even refueling. No other organization in the world can claim such a wide array of capabilities. However, with that flexibility comes the risk of running into hazards that a crew isn't aware existed. So, how do we reduce our overall risk while adapting from one mission set to another? The answer is not to recommend we reduce capabilities. The answer is to double down on organizational learning, train realistically, and train hard. This process is the foundation of how we operate at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island (NASWI) SAR, where we use our daily training operations and support for civil SAR to ensure we are ready to support Growler crews that rely on us to have their backs. Our inland SAR unit benefits from a focused scope of operations: provide the best possible SAR support for Growler operations. This is in contrast to the myriad of missions for which a deploying HSC or HSM command must prepare. While our primary mission is more simply defined, the environment over which the Growlers operate is the most diverse in North America, but requires the same level of flexibility and proficiency that all other naval helicopter units possess. The Growlers operating out of Whidbey typically transit either westward over the Olympic Mountains or, more frequently, eastward over the North Cascades for their training. VR-1355, renowned for its dramatic flight sequences in “Top Gun Maverick,” is the most heavily traversed low-level route for Growler aircrews. This route cuts through some of the most challenging and isolated mountain ranges in the Lower 48. The environments along these routes vary from forested
Rotor Review #162 Fall '23
Landing on two wheels
valleys with thick tree canopies rising 150-250 feet above the ground to glaciated alpine landscapes soaring to over 10,000 feet. While most VAQ operations remain over land, a portion ventures over water, which has a maximum average monthly temperature of 57 degrees, translating to a survival time of 1 to 6 hours. Routes notwithstanding, the local training ranges that the Growlers use are above both the Olympic and Okanogan Mountain Ranges with peaks over 8,000 feet with only a handful of areas accessible by ground. These ranges cover rain forests, desert mountains, and everything in between. To support the Growlers, each day at SAR is structured the same. We split the duty between two crews with turnovers at 0800 and roughly sunset. With just 10 pilots, a handful of Aircrewmen, and SAR Medical Technicians (SMTs), and a detachment-sized maintenance department, we are able to fly an average of six training flights per week and 30 to 60 SAR missions per year. All of which we accomplish while holding an alert-30 to alert-15 posture while the Growlers are airborne. On August 28, 2023, the daytime alert at NASWI SAR was marked by meetings and thunderstorms over the mainland to the east (unusual for Western Washington), and not much else. Then, with a little over an hour remaining until the night crew was to assume the alert, our crew received an approved mission from the NASWI Operations Duty Officer at 1652 for a female with a broken ankle 2 miles northeast of Mount Baker. As the crew assembled, we studied the area around the survivor using satellite imagery, briefed the mission, and spoke with the SAR Coordination Deputy for the county in which the survivor was located. The deputy passed updated medical information and a cellphone number for a group of hikers on-scene with the survivor. Even though the datum was in a remote area of the Cascades (at 6,000 feet and 6 miles from the nearest road), the crew was able to call the on-scene hikers. During the call, we asked the hikers to turn on any lights they had once our helicopter could be heard, take precautions 30
