29 Fall 2025 Proceedings to as the backup H-60 crew—available to complete the hoist. This crew would travel from Kodiak to St. Paul aboard a C-130, where they would take over piloting the helicopter that had been transported from Kodiak by the B-0 crew. Part of the backup crew, LT Justin Baker, an H-60 air- craft commander who had checked into the unit two weeks prior and completed a single warmup flight, showed up to work was told, “Go pack your bags! You’re headed downrange.” An hour after discovering he would be part of the team completing the hoist, he met his crew, loaded his gear on the waiting C-130, and learned that St. Paul was in the middle of the Bering Sea. Since a thorough response always includes multiple contingencies and backup plans, the C-130 crewmembers were notified they were being launched to support the mission, provide crew transport, and maintain cover for the H-60 completing the hoist. It was too early to know if civilian medical evacuation services could be deployed to St. Paul to pick up the patient after the hoist at the initial notification. If it wasn’t an option, the C-130 was the backup to transport the patient to Anchorage. In addition to the backup H-60 crew and the C-130 duty crews, I also had to identify a self-rescue H-60 crew. It’s Coast Guard policy to maintain a self-rescue capabil- ity, meaning that in the event an aircrew crashes or is forced to ditch the aircraft into the water, the only viable option for recovery is another Coast Guard helicopter. Even though H-60 aircrew members fly in dry suits and thermal layers, it is expected that the time of likely con- sciousness is only three to four hours, given the tempera- tures in Alaska. Therefore, operational decision-makers attempt to keep the self-rescue asset within an approxi- mate radius of response time where the maximum recov- ery time should not exceed the estimated time to loss of useful consciousness. In this case, the self-rescue crew would be positioned in either Cold Bay or Dutch Harbor, Alaska. As the plan developed, the self-rescue crew was planning to go to Coast Guard facilities in Cold Bay but learned midflight that Mount Shishaldin was erupting. Situated just 50 nm from Cold Bay, it spread a cloud of volcanic ash over the airport, creating a major hazard to aircraft and restricting flights in or out of the area. A significant meteorological information (SIGMET) advisory was issued to alert pilots to avoid the area over 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 trans- fer the patient and transport him to Anchorage for further medical care. Planning a Long-Distance, Cold-Weather Rescue When equipped with a full fuel load, the MH-60T’s range is about 200 nau- tical miles (nm) offshore, depending on wind and other weather conditions. Since the aircraft couldn’t make a non- stop journey to St. Paul on a single fuel load, the crew arranged for a refuel- ing stop in Cold Bay, Alaska, where the Coast Guard maintains a seasonal station. However, they had other consider- ations as cold-weather flying, though not unique to Alaska, presents its own challenges. To prevent fuel from freezing in cold temperatures and at altitude, fuel additives must be combined with aviation fuel. Often, aircrews must pack these additives them- selves and add them manually when they are away from their home stations. Additionally, when there is no han- gar available for the H-60, the aircraft requires special cold-weather plugs, covers, and tie downs to be stored safely. This prevents ice buildup in engine intakes and on flight control surfaces and prevents the rotor blades from being damaged by high winds, all of which are year-round hazards in Alaska. While the H-60 is fully outfitted with a standard search and rescue configuration, many of these addi- tional items are not part of the standard outfit. The kit of plugs and tie downs takes up space in the helicopter’s cabin and adds extra weight, reducing the amount of fuel that can be taken. These considerations don’t necessarily apply to other Coast Guard units operating within the contiguous United States where fuel and aircraft storage options are abundant. While the B-0 H-60 crew was developing its plan, the rest of the SAR coordination effort was underway. As the ODO, I had to identify a second H-60 crew—referred The MH-60T has a maximum gross weight limit of 21,884 pounds including fuel, equipment, and crew/patients.
