Air Rescue Team Retrieves 'Fallen Angel'
(May 5, 2011) |
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| KAPISA PROVINCE, Afghanistan (AFNS - 5/3/2011) -- Airmen
from Bagram Airfield's 83rd Expeditionary Rescue Squadron
performed a daring mountainside rescue here April 23 after
an Army helicopter crashed in a hostile Afghan valley. |
Maj. Jesse Peterson and Tech. Sgt. Shane
Hargis practice a hoist mission, April 22, 2011, the day before they
were called upon to rescue the pilots of a downed Army helicopter.
The two Airmen are Guardian Angel team members with the 83rd
Expeditionary Rescue Squadron at Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan. U.S.
Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Bill Cenna |
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The Airmen, deployed from the 33rd Rescue Squadron at Kadena Air
Base, Japan, and the 212th RQS at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson,
Alaska, recovered one injured pilot and one fallen hero while coming
under heavy fire.
The mission began prior to daybreak, when
Airmen at the squadron's tactical operations center received a
report of a Fallen Angel, the term which signifies a downed
aircraft. Within 10 minutes, two 83rd ERQS HH-60 Pave Hawk
helicopters were airborne and enroute to the site where a coalition
helicopter was reportedly down.
Pedro 83 and Pedro 84 quickly
arrived on scene, approximately 20 miles from Bagram, and held about
five miles away as they linked up with the other air assets in the
area, including F-15E Strike Eagle fighters and AH-64 Apache and
OH-58D Kiowa Warrior helicopters.
"When we arrived, one of
the Apaches already had eyes on the aircraft, and he lased the pilot
so we could see him," said Capt. Louis Nolting, the Pedro 84
co-pilot. "At this time, we had thought that the pilots were
collocated and that they'd egressed together from the aircraft." |
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One pilot had climbed several hundred feet to a ridge above
the aircraft wreckage. This ridge is where Airmen on Pedro
83, the lead aircraft, used the hoist to insert their
Guardian Angel team composed of Maj. Jesse Peterson, a
combat rescue officer; Tech. Sgt. Chris Uriarte, the team
leader; and Tech. Sgt. Shane Hargis, a team member.
"Once lead got the PJs on the ground, we found out the
pilots had split up," said Maj. Philip Bryant, the Pedro 84
pilot. "The pilot who had egressed told the PJs that the
other pilot was unconscious and at the crash site."
The PJs relayed the information about the second pilot still
with the downed helicopter, and the Pedro 84 aircrew was
directed to insert their PJs near the wreckage.
Based on the information, Staff Sgt. Zachary Kline, the
pararescue assistant team leader, and Staff Sgt. Bill Cenna,
a pararescue team member, began preparing their gear for
their insertion near the crash site. At about 180 feet, the
hoist was significantly higher than their standard descent
due to the surrounding terrain.
"It was the longest
hoist I've ever been on," Sergeant Kline said. "When we got
on the ground, I was still under the impression that we were
close to the other team, so we took a knee. We were about 50
meters from the crash site and we didn't see the other guys
so we made our way to the site."
The team approached
the pilot and discovered he had died prior to their arrival.
The PJs immediately began preparing the fallen hero to be
hoisted out.
FIRST CONTACT
Overhead, Pedro
84's flight engineer had retrieved the hoist cable and was
getting back into position when the aircraft began to take
fire.
"Not more than two seconds after forward
momentum was executed ... pop shots," said Staff Sgt.
William Gonzalez, the Pedro 84 gunner. "The first thing we
start doing is checking to see where it's coming from and
checking everybody out. And, maybe five seconds later the
(flight engineer) says 'I'm hit.'" |
Brig. Gen. Darryl Roberson, the 455th Air
Expeditionary Wing commander, pins a Purple Heart Medal on Tech.
Sgt. James Davis, April 23, 2011, at the Craig Joint Theater
Hospital. Sergeant Davis, a flight engineer with the 83rd
Expeditionary Rescue Squadron, was shot in the leg during a mission
to rescue the pilots of a downed Army helicopter. U.S. Air Force
photo by Capt. Erick Saks |
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In addition to manning one of the Pave Hawk's .50-caliber machine
guns and monitoring the aircraft's systems, the flight engineer runs
the hoist on the aircraft. Tech. Sgt. James Davis, was the engineer
on Pedro 84 when it was first engaged by enemy fire.
"I had
just turned off the hoist and I was sliding back into my seat when
the round came through the helicopter and hit me in the leg,"
Sergeant Davis said. "They asked 'are you all right Jim' and I said
'no I'm bleeding pretty good here.'"
Pedro 84 rejoined Pedro
83, but the Pedro 84 aircrew determined they were no longer mission
capable after the injury to the flight engineer. They headed back to
Bagram to get advance care for their injured flight engineer and to
pick up another engineer to take Sergeant Davis' place.
Sergeant Gonzalez immediately moved over to provide medical care for
Sergeant Davis. |
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"I looked back, and the first thing I saw was a pool of
blood by his seat," Sergeant Gonzalez said. "I went over to
assess his situation. I saw that he was still conscious and
saw that he was still breathing. I put his tourniquet right
above the wound. After I had it on, I went over to the PJs
medical kit and grabbed some gauze, and I wrapped it around
the leg trying to absorb as much blood as I could."
When the Pave Hawk landed at Bagram, the gunner, co-pilot
and a Marine lieutenant who saw they needed assistance
off-loaded Sergeant Davis, who was brought into the Craig
Joint Theater Hospital emergency room.
The flight
engineer said the timing of the shot is what made the
difference between a serious wound and a potentially fatal
one.
"I had been in the doorway with no way of
protecting myself to get the PJs on the ground," Sergeant
Davis said. "I got the cable up, and as soon as I slid from
the doorway to the seat, the round came in. If I was still
in the doorway, the round would have hit me right the in
body armor or below it, and I'd have been in much worse
shape."
As they cared for their injured crewmember,
the Pedro 84 crew also worked to find a replacement for
Sergeant Davis so they could get back to their PJs on the
ground.
Tech. Sgt. Heath Culbertson was sleeping at
Bagram Airfield when Sergeant Davis was shot, and he was
awakened by frantic knocking on his door.
"They said
'get up, we need you in the TOC now,'" Sergeant Culbertson
said. "I asked what's going on and they said Davis had been
shot."
"When we taxied over from the (refueling
point), Sergeant Culbertson had just walked out and was
ready to go," Major Bryant said. "He came, got into the
aircraft, got hooked up and we took off. The crew swap only
took about four minutes."
The reality of the
situation hit Sergeant Culbertson as he approached the
aircraft.
"As soon as I got underneath the rotor, I
saw the blood," he said. "It was pretty surreal. I'd seen
blood before in the cabin, but never from any of our own
guys. That was pretty shocking to me."
THE RIDGE
Back on the ridge above the crash site, the three-man
pararescue team treated the pilot, pulled security and
prepared for extraction. As team commander, Major Peterson
coordinated with Pedro flight for pick-up and passed along
information about the situation on the ground.
"My
job as team member was as the medic," Sergeant Hargis said.
"I checked over the pilot on the ground. He was fully alert
and oriented with stable vital signs, and he had a
laceration on his jaw."
Overhead, Pedro 83 swept the
area searching for the enemy.
"As we came around, I
saw rounds come up so I returned fire," said Senior Airman
Justin Tite, Pedro 83's gunner.
According to the
aircrew, the enemy fire originated from a tree between the
two PJ teams on the ground.
"There were no other
trees on the slope except this one huge tree right in the
middle between the two teams and that's where they were
hiding," Airman Tite said.
Seeing that his teams
were spit up by enemy positions, Sergeant Uriarte realized
they were not going to be able to walk to the PJs below.
As the enemy fire began picking up, Capt. Joshua Hallada,
Pedro 83's pilot, decided that they needed to get the PJ
team and pilot off the ground as soon as possible.
"So we set ourselves up to come in for a hover similar when
we first infilled them, although much lower," Captain
Hallada said. "Being that it was a little lighter now, we
brought it into a 20-foot hover over our team and the
survivor."
As the pararescuemen and the engineer
worked to get the survivor into the aircraft, enemy fire
increased, threatening Pedro 83.
"The team started to
hook up the survivor and that's when the pilot started to
call rounds off the one o'clock," said Senior Airman Michael
Price, the Pedro 83 flight engineer. "Someone called the
go-around at that point, and I sheared the cable to stop
from dragging them through the rocks."
Airman Price
used the guillotine-type device built into the hoist to cut
the cable and prevent injury to the Airmen below.
"I
had the strap around the survivor and I was hooked into the
cable," Sergeant Hargis said. "I gave them the signal to
bring up the cable and I noticed a little more slack coming
out. I thought maybe he didn't see me so I gave him the
signal again and the next thing I know, the cable's
sheared."
"At first I did not realize that he had
sheared the hoist," Captain Hallada said. "We came back
around and I was setting up to go lower and further back
into the rocks so that we could prevent (the enemy) from
hitting us to try to get (our team) out again. On short
final, I was informed that we didn't have a hoist. He had
told me several times, I was just overwhelmed with other
stuff."
Pedro 83 went around for yet another pass as
the crew tried to figure out how to proceed.
"I
determined we needed to one-wheel hover," Captain Hallada
said. "It's when you just set a wheel down on the rock next
to them and hover the rest of the aircraft at the same time,
allowing them just to jump on."
According to the
crew, the maneuver took 10 seconds at most, with the PJs and
survivor jumping onto the aircraft followed by a speedy
takeoff. However, the aircraft was damaged from fire they
received as they lifted off.
"We went back into our
overwatch patterns, realizing we'd been hit at that point,"
Captain Hallada said. "And, we started trying to figure out
what to do next seeing as we didn't have a hoist and we knew
the lower (landing zone) was hot."
Pedro 83 stayed
on scene to provide overwatch for the remaining PJs and
pilot despite the damage to their aircraft. Soon, running
low on fuel, they were relieved to hear that Pedro 84 was on
its way back.
"We left for (Forward Operating Base)
Morales-Frazier planning to get gas, ammo and return,"
Captain Hallada said. "However, once we landed, the
situation caused us to shutdown and evaluate further."
At Morales-Frazier, sergeants Uriarte and Hargis
transferred the injured helicopter pilot to the field
surgical team while Major Peterson ran to the tactical
operations center to coordinate with the ground force
commanders. Meanwhile, Airman Price looked over the aircraft
to evaluate the extent of the damage. Upon the first glance,
the damage appeared minimal. But then, the Airman checked
the main transmission fluid.
"It was pretty much
bone dry," he said. "I told the captain we couldn't fly. We
really didn't want to create another (personnel recovery)
event out there."
The crew of Pedro 83 began working
with their operations team at the TOC to get back into the
fight. This entailed 1st Lt. Elliott Milliken, Pedro 83's
co-pilot, coordinating a ride back to Bagram to pick up
their spare aircraft.
Once at Bagram, the crew
quickly loaded into the fresh Pave Hawk with additional
pararescuemen and a small maintenance team, and they headed
back to FOB Morales-Frazier.
PEDRO LINKUP
Pedro 84 arrived back on scene to find significant airpower
had joined the fight to protect the pararescue team and
pilot still on the ground.
"While we were away, (A-10
Thunderbolt IIs) had shown up," Major Bryant said. "We train
with the A-10s to do this, combat search and rescue. When we
got back out there, there were three Apaches and four A-10s
operating in the area."
The enemies in the large tree
continued to threaten the aircraft and ground personnel
until the A-10s and Apaches engaged the target.
"The
A-10s were using their nose guns and their rockets, and the
Apaches were using their chain guns," Captain Nolting said.
With the situation appearing to have settled down,
the Pedro 84 aircrew made an attempt to extract the PJs and
remaining pilot. An Army Apache teamed up with the Pave Hawk
to move to the landing zone.
On scene for the first
time, Sergeant Culbertson was able to get eyes on the crash
site and the PJs. He was guiding the pilots down to the site
when he began to hear what he thought may be gunfire.
"I heard whistling by my head," he said. "But, I thought
to myself, 'that can't be. I've got my helmet on. There's no
way I'm hearing the hisses.'"
It wasn't until
Sergeant Culbertson heard the impacts on the aircraft that
he realized they were under fire and he began searching for
points of origin.
"Next thing I know, I get thrown
on my console," the flight engineer said. "I still didn't
know what was going on at that point. But from this vantage
point, I could see under my gun, and I could see the muzzle
flashes. I remember shaking my head to clear it, and then
just a rage of fury came over me."
It wasn't until
much later that Sergeant Culbertson realized a bullet had
entered his helmet on the right side, through his visor and
exited the other side of the helmet without injuring him.
"I called for the go around, turned the gun power switch
on, and just started unleashing the 50 cal on these two
points of origin," he said.
While Sergeant Culbertson
remembers the event in "slow motion," Sergeant Gonzalez said
the entire engagement was very quick.
"All of this
happened within four seconds," Sergeant Gonzalez said. "I
hear him say 'I'm scanning, I'm scanning. There was the
pop-pop-pop from the ground, then the guh-guh-guh-guh from
his gun."
Captain Nolting credits Sergeant
Culbertson's quick and collected response to saving the
aircraft.
"Without him returning that fire, there was
a chance that our right engine or hydraulics could have been
shot out," he said.
Running low on fuel, and with
plenty of air support on scene to protect the team on the
ground, the Pedro 84 aircrew returned to FOB Morales-Frazier
where they looked over the damage to their aircraft. It was
at this point that the crew realized not only that Sergeant
Culbertson had been hit, but so had Sergeant Gonzalez.
"I initially counted seven rounds that had impacted the
cabin," Sergeant Gonzalez said. "And then, I noticed the one
that was under my seat. It had come from under my seat and
fragged outward. One piece missed my right knee, and the
other actually bounced off my knee and went through my knee
pad."
Determining the aircraft was still flyable,
Pedro 83 and Pedro 84 prepared to head back to the crash
site together. Before departing, the pararescuemen who had
come in with the spare aircraft from Bagram loaded onto the
Pave Hawks.
"The situation being what it was, we
didn't know how long the mission was going to take,"
Sergeant Uriarte said. "We thought it was best to switch
crews so that they could do some work and we could pick it
up later in the night."
THE CRASH SITE
At the
crash site, sergeants Kline and Cenna assessed the
situation. With Pedro 84 off scene due to Sergeant Davis'
gunshot wound and Pedro 83 on its way to FOB
Morales-Frazier, there was little they could do but wait.
They hunkered down near the aircraft and the pilot, waiting
for the Pave Hawks to return.
"It was at that time
when we started taking fire," Sergeant Kline said. "I didn't
know what was going to happen at that point. We were both
preparing ourselves mentally to stay there for a while."
The enemy fire was sporadic as they took cover at the
base of the mountain.
"Initially, it was just a
couple shots here or there," he said. "But then, it really
started to get close. Both of us ducked and got behind a
rock outcropping. I think I saw the rounds impact before I
heard them."
Unable to see the muzzle flashes,
Sergeant Kline requested support from the aircraft above.
"I was basing all of my calls for fire off the
impacts," he said. "If rounds hit here, they had to come
from there. There was no other way. We were just watching
where the dust flew and taking a reverse azimuth."
The team member began looking for escape routes should the
conditions deteriorate further.
"To me, there was
just one," Sergeant Kline said. "There was this ravine. It
was approximately 25 meters away."
The team
eventually had to use the egress route as the enemy fire
became overwhelming for the two Airmen.
"We thought
we were in pretty good coverage with the boulders and the
helicopter," Sergeant Cenna said. "But, I distinctly
remember looking over at (Sergeant Kline) at multiple times,
seeing rounds and dirt flying right next to him. How we were
not hit was pretty amazing."
"It felt like 30 rounds
were all around us all within a two- to four-second period.
They just hit everywhere," Sergeant Kline said. "They hit
the aircraft, and it went up in flames. It quickly overtook
the aircraft and I yelled at (Sergeant Cenna) to get the
hell out of there. I had noticed during my initial scan of
the aircraft that there was still a rocket pod with rockets
in it. That was my concern; that it was going to be like the
Fourth of July."
Sergeants Kline and Cenna sprinted
for the ravine taking cover from the aircraft fire while
dodging enemy bullets.
"That's when it started
exploding," Sergeant Kline said. "Even while we hunkered
down, they still kept shooting at us. The rounds were
ricocheting above our heads. I have molten metal on my kit
from where the helicopter had exploded."
Sergeant
Kline kept in contact with the air assets throughout the
firefight, providing situation updates and receiving
information about the enemy who was closing on their
position.
"They provided overwatch the whole time,"
he said. "They were like 'there are these guys 300 meters to
the north of you; we're going to go hot on them.' We could
feel the concussion from the rockets."
Sergeant Kline
also recalled seeing an Army quick-reaction force being
flown over their position as they waited.
"I could
see guys sitting there in their seatbelts with their guns,"
he said. "And as they were going by, I could see a (rocket
propelled grenade) whiz by. I looked up, and I could see the
burst on the western mountainside."
Sergeants Kline
and Cenna said they would go up to 15 minutes without a shot
fired on them; however, every time they would begin to
signal that they were clear, the firefight would start up
again.
"I'd say, 'hey, it's been clear for 15'
pop-pop-pop-pop," Sergeant Kline said. "It was every time I
would try to tell someone it was clear, they'd pop off a
couple of rounds."
While waiting in the ravine,
sergeants Kline and Cenna overheard the 9-line medical
evacuation request for a member for the QRF.
9 LINE
Together for the first time since Sergeant Davis was
shot, Pedro 83 and Pedro 84 left FOB Morales-Frazier hoping
to extract the PJs and the second pilot. However, the
aircrews received the 9 line before they arrived on scene.
A Soldier had been hit and died within minutes of the
call, Major Bryant said. Then as the Pedros approached the
area another Soldier was hit and required immediate medical
evacuation.
"When we got to the scene, there was an
incredible amount of helicopter traffic in the valley,"
Captain Hallada said. "It was more than I've ever seen
anywhere in this entire country going all directions. There
were UH-60 (Black Hawks), Apaches, Kiowas and French
helicopters."
Two Apaches joined the Pedros' Pave
Hawks, creating a four-ship rescue formation; however, the
number of enemies on the ground and the amount of firepower
they wielded resulted in several unsuccessful passes over
the medevac landing zone.
During the first attempt,
Pedro 84 began descending into the ravine as the other three
aircraft provided cover.
"As we got down to about 30
feet, (Sergeant Gonzalez) and I starting seeing muzzle
flashes from this one building 200 to 300 feet from us,"
Captain Nolting said.
The flight lead determined they
need to pull around, and as Captain Nolting worked to get
the aircraft out of the valley, the flight engineer and the
pararescuemen engaged targets in the building.
Just
barely passing over some wires that were strung along the
valley, Captain Nolting was able to safely get Pedro 84 out
the zone. The aircraft formed back up for another pass with
Pedro 83 this time attempting to land and extract the
Soldier.
"As we were about to set down, we were
engaged, and all of the aircraft returned fire, including
the Apaches," Captain Hallada said. "As we took off, I
immediately saw the wires out the windscreen, and I pulled
everything the rotor system had to get over them."
On
the third attempt, Pedro 84 was just feet from the ground
when they started taking fire again, according Major Bryant.
At that point, one of the Apaches performed a buttonhook
back toward them and began engaging enemy targets.
"It split the formation, firing rockets and guns," Captain
Nolting said. "It was the most amazing thing I've ever seen.
It was deconflicted, it was safe and it was awesome."
Based upon the threat, the formation again pulled out of
the area to reset. At that point, the Apaches fired their
Hellfire missiles destroying a confirmed position which had
been posing the immediate threat to the aircrews and the
Soldiers on the ground.
On the fourth attempt, the
Pedro 83 aircrew was finally able to land and extract the
injured Soldier. They saw this as the ideal time to finally
extract the second pilot and their PJs.
"There had
been this tremendous weight on us the whole mission since
we'd left our PJs in the zone," Captain Nolting said. "This
was our golden opportunity to get them out."
EXTRACTION
Captain Nolting made contact with the PJs
as Pedro 84 began to move into position above them. They
agreed on an extraction game plan. Sergeant Culbertson would
lower the hoist, the PJs would first hook the pilot's litter
to the line, then they would connect themselves on a second
hoist. But just as the aircraft made it's decent, the
engineer noticed that the hoist had broken.
"I knew
that we had to get our PJs out, and this was our
opportunity," Sergeant Culbertson said. "The only other
option I had was to go to backup mode. I said a little
prayer, pushed down, and it worked."
According to the
flight engineer, the problem with operating the hoist in
backup mode is that the speed is significantly slower;
however, they lowered the cable and the pararescuemen
connected the pilot.
"That's pretty brave to send up
a hero and not yourself when you been there over five
hours," Captain Nolting said.
The lack of speed in
the hoist was clearly evident to the PJs below the aircraft,
according to the engineer.
"As I'm putting the hoist
down there, I can see Kline down there waiving for me to go
faster," Sergeant Culbertson said. "I'm like, 'sorry
brother, I can't go any faster. The hoist is broke.'"
"By this time, I was expecting for us to get shot down,"
Captain Nolting said. "We'd been there so long. I truly
expected we were going down."
For the first time
that day, however, the aircraft did not take any fire, and
the Pedro 84 aircrew was able to extract the pilot and PJs
and evacuate the area.
Sergeants Kline and Cenna
spent about five and a half hours in the valley dodging
bullets and the explosion of the aircraft. And while he
didn't know whether or not he would make it out of the area
alive, Sergeant Kline said he knew that he would never have
left without the downed pilot.
"We were going to do
everything in our power to get him back," he said. "If I had
to clip in and hold him, I would have. There was no way he
wasn't coming back."
Prior to departing to have his
injuries treated at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in
Germany, Sergeant Davis expressed his pride in the actions
of his squadron.
"We did what we do," Sergeant Davis
said. "We've got a motto for a reason, these things we do
that others may live." |
By USAF Capt. Erick Saks
455th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
Copyright 2011 | |
Reprinted from
Air Force News
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