Playing it for real – July's helicopter exercise on Pendle
It was late Saturday morning at Noggarth top and the unmistakable deep thudding noise of the RAF Sea King Search and Rescue helicopter got ever louder.
Our hill party of six loaded specialist mountain rescue equipment onboard as we prepared to locate and rescue an injured party near the summit of Pendle Hill.
The flight time was just a co
uple of minutes and then we were circling the hill. The winch operator attracted our attention and pointed to his screen, where a camera was feeding back live pictures of two casualties. A quick look around and we couldn’t see anyone else, so we knew we had two casualties to deal with as soon as we unloaded.
It was a bright sunny day and Pendle Hill was buzzing with walkers, out enjoying the views from this iconic Lancashire hill. They looked on in awe as our party left the helicopter – crouching on the hill top, we held down rescue equipment and personal gear, as the helicopter took off creating a huge downdraft and returned to Noggarth.
Making our way to the casualties they were quickly assessed and priorities decided – a lady with a head injury and a gentleman who’d suffered a myocardial infarction. Casualty care was given and our stretcher prepared to evacuate one of the casualties. However we needed more equipment and I radioed through to our team leader requesting further personnel, another stretcher and more oxygen. It was a busy day and the RAF were also assisting the team with an injured lady in Noggarth Quarry. However our request was granted and within minutes the helicopter returned with another hill party and equipment.
Within minutes we had loaded both casualties onto stretchers and were awaiting an urgent evacuation. The helicopter returned once more and we loaded both stretchers and a number of team members onboard. They were away – both casualties safely on their way off the hill. The rest of us sat back and tucked into our lunch, enjoying the glorious weather and praying they’d send the helicopter back for us. Otherwise it was a long walk back!
The scenario was very real, but on this occasion it was a joint training exercise between RAF 202 (SAR) Squadron based at RAF Leconfield on the east coast and our mountain rescue team. Down in Noggarth Quarry the lady with an open compound fracture to her leg was also receiving excellent care from other team members and being evacuated by the RAF.
A number of us were in the final stages of training for our forthcoming Casualty Care exam and this kind of exercise really focused our minds on what was required – thankfully the following week we all passed! The casualties were members of the Burnley branch of the British Red Cross and provided us with realistic injuries to deal with – they were fantastic and extremely helpful.
This type of exercise helps us to maintain our ability to work closely with the RAF SAR – safety in and around the helicopter, transferring personnel and equipment to locations which are hard to access and finding, treating, loading and transferring casualties. It also gives the RAF realistic practice in carrying out their role in search and rescue.
It isn’t every week we receive assistance from the RAF, but they helped us in April last year when we had a casualty on Pendle Hill very late one Sunday evening. He’d fallen and fractured his leg, requiring evacuation to hospital. Without their assistance we would have had to carry him about three miles by stretcher – so we were delighted when they arrived!
This week it was an exercise, but next week it could be the real thing again.
For more pix of the exercixe, go to our Gallery or check out our Rossendale & Pendle page on Facebook.
posted Sunday, July 26, 2009