Private helicopter rescues lost children
 

Report from Chico-ER (Northern California) ....

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Private helicopter pilot rescues lost children


A boy and girl, both 11, were pulled from a rugged area of ButteCreekCanyon about 2:30 a.m. Wednesday by the owner of a private helicopter and his pilot.


The rescue concluded an intensive eight-hour search for the children, cousins who went missing about 6 p.m. while exploring hiking trails near PinesElementary School in Magalia. The children were found cold and frightened, but neither was injured.


Local resident Dan Kohrdt said a friend who saw the search effort reported on television called him shortly after 11 p.m. Kohrdt, who owns a Bell 407 helicopter with state-of-the art night-vision equipment, called his pilot, David Gunsauls, and the two men agreed they should assist in the search effort.


Gunsauls, owner of PJ Helicopter in Red Bluff, said he knew about where the children had last been seen, and flew to that location. As they approached the area, Gunsauls said he contacted a dispatcher with the Butte County Sheriff's Office. He said the dispatcher asked them if they were a civilian aircraft, and allegedly advised them they weren't authorized to be communicating on a secure channel. When Gunsauls explained what they were doing, he said he was denied GPS coordinates to the focus of the search.


The two men continued searching on their own and eventually spotted volunteers on the ground from Butte County Search and Rescue.

Incident commander Mike Larish said up to 25 people, some on all-terrain vehicles, were already looking for the children in the Nimshew Road area of Butte Creek Canyon when the helicopter showed up. However, he said searchers were approximately a half-mile from where the children were found, and guessed they could have remained lost for several more hours if not spotted from the air. "They were still on the other side of the creek from us," Larish said. A Sheriff's Office press release noted the children were walking toward some lights, which would have taken them deeper into the canyon.


Gunsauls and Kohrdt spent another hour flying around before they found the children, standing in a small clearing and holding on tightly to one another. Gunsauls said he landed about 100 yards from the children, but the brush between them and the helicopter was too dense to negotiate.

The pilot then performed what he called a "toe-in" maneuver, balancing the front rails of the helicopter on a rocky ledge, and had to hold the craft it in place for several minutes while Kohrdt prepared to grab the two children and hoist them into the back of the helicopter. Kohrdt communicated with the girl on the ground using hand signals. Despite being lightly dressed in jeans and sweatshirts, neither suffered hypothermia.


Gunsauls said he was surprised the Sheriff's Office was reluctant to accept help, especially since there were no other aircraft assisting in the rescue.

Larish (Incident commander) said a much larger response was on order for the search, which eventually would have included 50 more ground personnel, 10 K-9 teams and up to two law enforcement helicopters, which would have launched at first light.

Capt. Jerry Smith, who runs air operations for the Sheriff's Office, said he was grateful for the helicopter rescue of the children, but never would have authorized the aircraft to participate. "It's strictly outside our scope of operations to allow civilians in something like this without pre-approval," Smith said. He emphasized that when the helicopter first showed up, authorities running the search operation on the ground had no idea who was flying it and what the skill level of the pilot might be.


Gunsauls is an experienced pilot and has flown power line installations for PG&E, as well as marijuana eradication missions for the Sheriff's Office.

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I personally believe this to be the exception to the rule. It should certainly not be considered 'normal' what these two opportunists did.
The results don't justify the means.
There must have been a reason for the 2 police helos not to launch?
The civvy helo could have experienced difficulties during the search phase leading to an even bigger incident. The evolution was a success due mainly to the pilots skill and I would suggest, an element of luck.
Let's not get carried away with the result.
God help us if the UK Skywatch team read this.......................

Surely all must agree the result was wonderful…the children were rescued.

Now whether ‘the system’ worked, or could be improved upon, is surely another matter! Where is this ‘shared responsibility’, between the public and the forces of Law & Order, for public safety that many forces proclaim? How can you have responsibility without an element of authority...in this case “Self Authorisation”?

Wouldn’t it have been more pro-active of the dispatcher at the local Sheriff’s Office to have asked more questions and checked out who this civilian helicopter was rather than just telling him to “go forth and multiply”?

How much of the Sheriff’s concern, which led to the refusal of assistance from a civilian, was as a result of the desire of the Sheriff’s Office to retain total control / authority (power) over the situation, how much was concern for liability issues, and how much was real?

Seems kinda harsh way of decribing two guys who heard there was a big search on for missing children and went out to help find them.

Owner provides his helicopter FOC.
Pilot gives his time FOC.

Opportunists? :confused:

One has to remember the California Police mentality folks....to say they can be, well.....errr....well the reason they wear neckties is it keeps a certain part of their anatomical makeup from riding up over the tip.

The Sheriff's concern about communicating over a "secure" police channel without authorization is valid.

The Sheriff's concern about an "unauthorized" helicopter participating in the seach is valid.

The Sheriff's concern...not stated...about the PR embarassment is priceless.

The article notes the aircraft is equipped with specialized night vision equipment and the pilot had done drug interdiction flights for the Sheriff in the past thus he was a known personality to the Sheriff.

The larger question is why the two Law Enforcement aircraft were not involved in the search at that time...they too are equipped with very expensive night vision equipment at taxpayer expense. Also, why has the Sheriff's office not set up an arrangement to use the volunteer aircraft exactly as they do the Sheriff's Posse and Rescue Teams?

If you recall...in Utah about two years ago, a Civilian pilot rescued some people, and performed other services without charge and was done by the FAA for doing so. The huge public outcry swayed the FAA's actions to merely giving the guy a written reprimand and threat of license action if he repeated his actions within a year.

Our government agencies, particularly in Californina, maintain air forces at great expense to the taxpayer and at the direct cost of business to local helicopter operators. For this to happen....some mere civilian "opportunist" to come along and do the job for free when the police would not....well that just isn't cricket.

If these guys are at the HAI this year....I will be glad to buy them a brew or two.


http://www.pjhelicopters.com/contact.html

With no other aircraft in the area I'm not sure why the authorities would be concerned that there was a civilian aircraft looking for the children. Looking for escaped felons would be out of line, but looking for lost children? If the pilot is licensed and flying within the legal parameters you would think (hope) that they would be grateful for any and all help they could get.

If those had been my kids the two gents would certainly receive a bounty.

Perhaps even a Snickers too.

Human spirit and common sense: 1
Government Bureaucracy: 0

Before we really blast the police for their choppers being on the ground, we really need to know what night capability and training they have.

Doing a search in a black hole without an aircraft properly equipped or pilot trained is asking for trouble. I only know of three police agencies in California with NVG capability, and they do not include the biggest one's.

Since when does an organised professional search involving dedicated specialists with SOP's/strategies/inter service agreements/protocols,
suddenly discover amongst their midst - a rogue element doing its own thing. Not talking to any of the ground troops, not being aware of their intentions; blatently showing due disregard to anything going on elsewhere?

These 'loose canons' wander in do their own thing and stumble across the victims. This was not a co-ordinated search using the information available, it was a lucky shot. Nothing more nothing less.
They weren't to know that within minutes, several other airborne assets might arrive. What then?
They may have become victims themselves during this foray into the unknown, especially during the landing/takeoff phase - what then? Who clears that mess up?

To support this action would cause senseless havoc to future dedicated search and rescue missions. Switch the TV on, pick a mission, ring a buddy and hey presto - instant hero:mad:

I say again: the results DON'T justify the means.

Do it properly, or don't do it at all..................Morons.:yuk:

TC,

Climb down off the saw horse...they tried to talk to the Sheriff's office on the Sheriff's radio frequency....the pilot had flown for the Sheriff's office before....the aircraft had the necessary kit....somewhat shy of what you are supposing in your post. Read the article again and think about what you just said....bit harsh for what really happened.

If the SO had provided the info...the aircraft could have been on target in a matter of minutes...and been told to bugger off when the Pros from Dover showed up. These are not unreasonable people....persistent maybe but not unreasonable.

The SO showed a great bit of reluctance to think out of the box.

In Washington State...I got flagged down by three Washington State Troopers as I landed in my "unapproved" site to pick up my executives....instead of going to jail as I suspected....I wound up searching for a gunman who had shot at a Trooper. The shooter went to jail...I got a free landing pass for the season...the community was served. At no cost to the public mind you.

If it had been my kids out there....I would be standing on the Sheriff's desk asking just what he was thinking by turning down offered assistance. Offered on his very own radio if you recall.

"Hello SO...hear you fellers need some help....be glad to assist....what you want us to do?"

"Buzz off!"

"What about the Kids..."

"Never mind the kids...we have our protocols!"



Sssheeesssh! Gimme a break here!

Butte County Sheriff doens't have any helicopters as far as I know, but they have a fixed wing. The 2 helicopters they are referring to are probably the CHP's H14 and H16 Astars based in Redding to the north but I think know what assets they have further south. Could have been they were fogged in or out on calls, here is the 407 http://www.snowcrest.net/tina/tn9.JPG

Who are UK Skywatch??? :confused:

Try this link: - UK Skywatch

Getting the priorities right
 

Here's my tuppence worth.

Law enforcement is often about risk management and getting your priorities right. Legal liability is certainly an issue that needs to be considered.

Air Support in open country is the biggest asset that any PD will have to

a) Find your vulnerable person as quickly as possible
b) Release police resources to go catch criminals (or get to the doughnut shop)
c) Reduce the costs on the operation
d) oh...and save lives or at least a lot of distress

but lets be honest the volunteers.... or whatever you want to call them....these guys probably saved lives here. Who knows what dangers awaited these kids.

Well done to them...they saved the police time, money and a potential serious carpeting from their bosses. They deserve a commendation for their efforts. Its the usual though...if the unusual tactics pay off they they are heroes if it all goes wrong then......

TC as an ASU pilot I am sure you would want to save lives first and face second? These guys got to be heroes...just like you!! :)


IC

There are some recent court case decisions that would have made the sheriffs department liable had they authorized the aircraft to participate in the operation & for some reason the aircraft caused injury or property damage. Having said that it is very commendable that the air crew had the figs to do the right thing & rescuse the kids.

Stan,

Police Agencies throughout the country use non-sworn volunteers, sworn volunteers, and other community assets for the conduct of searches and other activities. They all have insurance policies or self insure for that liability. There is nothing new about that....they in this case were doing that very thing but not with the helicopter and its crew.

I reiterate my earlier post....the SO got caught flat footed on this one. They had a very valuable community asset, of which they were well acquainted with from prior business contacts. The pilot had flown missions for the SO...probably in the very aircraft possibly. That might explain why the crew talked to the SO on the SO's own radio frequency.

They just had not prior planned and coordinated the relationship thus what happened......happened. The "rules" did not allow for any flexibility by the officer coordinating the operation. More importantly, he was not about to assume that responsibility himself. That should tell us how bad things are getting in our society when well equipped, trained, capable people and assets cannot be incorporated into a government operation during times of disasters.

Does the name Katrina ring a bell....this is just a very small demonstration of what happened and still is happeneing in Louisana and the Gulf Coast in the wake of Katrina and Rita. Lots of people died in that disaster and two children could have died in this one. That is the point in all of this. We still have not learned our lessons from Katrina....even on a local scale.

The US Forest Service a several years ago declared a State of Emergency when Oregon was burning down one summer. It seemed the entire state, at least the part that had trees, was burning. Several small towns near Roseburg, Oregon were threatened by the massive fires in that area. We were called by the USFS...and volunteered four aircraft at no expense to the government. They were desperate for air assets. Result....they refused to use us because our aircraft were not USFS or OAS approved and carded.

Thus...it would seem...the rules got in the way of the emergency. We still did what we could but not with or for the USFS.

Somehow I figure lives outweigh rules any time....there comes a time to chuck the rule book out the window and Gitterdun!

I Call BS.

There is a federal law know as the good samaritan law which provides indemnity for persons offering help in these situations. There is no logical reason nor legal reason for the authorities not to accept the help of clearly qualified individuals. As a matter of fact, the mere fact that they turned down the help may actually put the department in legal jeopardy should have something awful happened to the children. What a shame that politics and small penis syndrome get in the way of people working together to try to achieve a positive result.

TC - You are of course, entitled to your opinion. Just wondering, do you have kids?

WB

Looking at the photo of the 407 involved, it looks like it is set up as a small EMS/SAR config, with breeze lightweight hoist all the latest 407 mods and NVG's , people don't put these on for fun! It was obviously a well equiped A/C with an experianced crew wanting to help and a Sheriff without a clue not wanting to use a well equiped asset, .....probably better equipped than the police helo's on call!!!! Definetly agree with sassless on this one.