rescue
SASless-Bad taste!
This sad accident reminds me of a time and a place in the Far East ,in the mid-60`s when we were required to pick-up some of the Men-in-black from Hereford,if they found themselves on the hot-foot from the enemy and no LZfor p/up.We carried several sets of abseil-tapes(before ropes were used) and a couple of rescue strops,attached to one end of the tapes,plus sand-bag as ballast;the other ends were attached to the winch cable,or the para-rail.Said troops would then attach themselves and be hauled skywards to a safe location,2at a time,repeat op/a/r until all are safe. At the time we were also experiencingengie computer problems which if you were unlucky could give a runaway up/down/freeze,but you could use manual throttle,assuming you didn`t surge as well.A couple of SOP`S were tucked away (as this was not approved by any higher authority),that in the event of engine problems,anyone on the tapes would be cut-away over a river,or along a beach,or in the worst case into the trees,or if stuck at high power,then if possible,be dropped-off on a fly-through on a ridge at about 5000ft where on would be short of OGE hover power,and then sort the a/c out from there.Fortunately ,we never had to try the SOP`S in anger,but they may give a little food for thought.
A couple of further thoughts come to mind,sitting in a comfortable chair; Could rescuers on a long-line also wear an emergency -type `chute,or have one attached by static -line to the a/c,at the a/c end of the long-line?What about a mini life-jacket as well? I know there are mobility problems for the rescuer,but I`m sure that there must be kit that is available that you Ppruners know about/use/seen and can share the information around,so we hopefully won`t see a similar tragedy again.
My sincere condolences to all the families and compatriots.