The new edition of Proceedings is here — and it highlights Coast Guard operations across Alaska and the Arctic!
Explore stories on Puget Sound’s lifeline to Alaska, the Marine Exchange of Alaska, civil engineering in harsh environments, the Southeast cruise industry, and the vital roles of the Coast Guard Reserve and Auxiliary in Arctic regions.
Read below for an excerpt of "Quintessential Kodiak," a recount of a complex long-distance rescue in the Arctic written by LCDR Caitlyn Gever a MH-60T Instructor Pilot at Air Station Kodiak, Alaska.
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At 2 a.m. on August 26, 2023, Coast Guard LT Justin Baker completed what he described as “the toughest approach in the worst conditions” of his career as an MH-60T pilot. He and LT Bobby McConnel had just landed in Cold Bay after executing a mission that began 18 hours earlier.
The previous morning, in the overnight duty crew housing, I was getting ready for the day as the Air Station Kodiak operations duty officer (ODO) when the phone rang. The Arctic District watch officer was requesting an MH-60T to medevac a 26-year-old man from a fishing vessel in the Bering Sea more than 200 nautical miles northwest of St. Paul Island, Alaska.
Balking at the daunting distance, I began the ODO’s response process. As the operations officer’s (OPS) representative, the ODO is charged with coordinating the launch and recovery of all aviation assets at Air Station Kodiak, as well as orchestrating and monitoring ongoing response efforts of search and rescue (SAR) cases and medical evacuations.
Normal procedure dictates that the ODO discuss the details of a request to use an asset with OPS before the aircraft’s launch. This response effort required extensive planning due to the massive distance between the air station and the vessel with the ailing patient. For perspective, the initial position of the vessel was over 700 miles from Air Station Kodiak. That’s like getting a call in Washington, D.C., to respond to a vessel in Miami.
The medevac discussion covered key details of the request, including the patient’s medical condition, the flight surgeon’s recommended timeframe for transporting the patient to advanced medical care, and any altitude or flight restrictions. Additionally, OPS can weigh in on recommendations for additional personnel such as health care professionals, if available, and risks to Coast Guard personnel and/or to the patient in a Coast Guard aircraft. They may also suggest other options that could be used instead of a helicopter—cutters, small boats, or civilian operated commercial medevac services.
Air Station Kodiak maintains H-60 and C-130 crews in a Bravo-Zero (B-0), status, meaning that either crew will be airborne within 30 minutes of launch notification. The H-60 crew launched from Air Station Kodiak with the primary responsibility of ferrying the aircraft from Kodiak to St. Paul. By the time they reached St. Paul more than six hours later, the B-0 H-60 crewmembers were at their flight time limitations. They met the B-0 C-130 crew that was waiting with a fresh H-60 crew who would perform the hoist of the patient and return to St. Paul Island. There, a civilian medevac airplane would meet them to transfer the patient and transport him to Anchorage for further medical care.
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Read the full article, "Quintessential Kodiak" on page 28 in the latest issue of Proceedings.
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