Value in short-haul helicopter rescues

The windshield of a New York State parks police boat was all that was visible of the vessel as it sank on the upper Niagara River near Goat Island Saturday afternoon.

 

NIAGARA FALLS, Ont. -- Plucking two American police officers from their stranded boat sitting three football fields away from the brink of the Horseshoe Falls proved years of practicing helicopter rescues was worth it, a local helicopter company owner says.

"This was an excellent call. It was the only technique you could get them out with," Niagara Helicopters owners Ruedi Hafen said Saturday after he piloted his aircraft over the boat with Niagara Parks Police Const. Shawn Black dangling from a 33-metre line connected to the cargo hook.

"We could only do it because we were trained on this technique."

One at a time, his team transferred two New York State Parks Police officers from their vessel, which was anchored in the fast, turbulent waters of the upper Niagara River, to the safety of a parking lot on nearby Goat Island.

It was exactly the scenario Hafen, the owner of a private helicopter company, has practiced for years with Canadian and American police, local firefighters and paramedics.

"I was always hoping one of these days we could show the world a short-haul rescue mission," Hafen said. "We knew the technique was fast, safe and efficient. We never had a lot of real calls for it."

Until Saturday morning.

The incident began at about 2 a.m., when New York State Parks Police received a call about a disabled vessel with four teens aboard. It was near the Three Sisters Islands, about 275 meters from the brink of the Horseshoe Falls, said New York parks police Sgt. Mark Van Wie.

At about 2 a.m. Saturday, New York State Parks police got a call about a disabled vessel with four people aboard. The boat was in the Niagara River near the Three Sisters Islands, about 275 meters from the brink of the Horseshoe Falls, Sgt. Mark Van Wie said.

The boaters were near the water intake area for the hydroelectric plants on the American side of the river, and well inside an area off limits to boats.

It wasn't clear to police where the people aboard the 18-foot motorboat were from or whether they'd run out of gas or encountered engine trouble, Van Wie said.

Two New York parks officers launched their own boat. They were able to get the stranded teens back to shore, but in the course of the rescue their own vessel ran into trouble due to heavy fog at about 4:15 a.m. Disoriented by fog, unable to drive against the current and unsure how close to the brink they were, the officers dropped anchor to hold their position just upriver from the Old Scow, but closer to the Goat Island shore.

On the Canadian side of the river, Niagara Parks Police were called at 5:46 a.m. to assist with the rescue of the American officers, said Const. John Gayder, who co-ordinates a Canadian program that trains cops, firefighters and paramedics in short-haul helicopter rescues. They have done that training twice a year since 2003, he said.

Gayder went to Hafen's house and got the owner of the private helicopter company out of bed at 6 a.m. to launch the short-haul rescue lift.

The short-haul plan was intended to be the backup plan.

"As things unfolded, it turned out short-haul became the primary plan," Gayder said.

A helicopter in Erie County, N.Y., was fogged in and couldn't help. The Joint Rescue Co-ordination Center in Trenton was too far away.So, Hafen's team swung into action.

Hafen flew his helicopter with employee Ken Irvine, acting as a spotter, over the boat and they lowered rescuer Black to the men, who gave them harnesses. Hafen flew away, giving the American officers time to put on their harnesses.

Then Hafen made two trips, each time with Black dangling from a 33-meter line attached to the bottom of his blue Bell helicopter normally used for giving tourists a bird's-eye view of the falls. Black attached a harnessed officer to his line, then the helicopter shuttled them to Goat Island state park.

It was about 8:30 a.m., by the time the officers were back on shore -- more than four hours after they anchored their boat.

The helicopter rescue was the only way to get to the stranded officers, Hafen said, because they were too far to reach from shore and it was too dangerous to launch another boat.

The 33-meter line was "ideal" because it was long enough to allow Hafen to hover high enough over the scene without the down draft capsizing the boat, but short enough that he could maneuver Black into position.

"We couldn't get any closer with the helicopter than we were"¦. I think that boat couldn't handle much more impact. That boat couldn't handle much more stress," Hafen said.

The rescue technique could also be used to pull people from other precarious positions like from a high-rise building, he added.

Saturday afternoon the abandoned boat was still anchored in the river, but it had taken on so much water only the windshield was visible. Gayder said he wasn't sure whether it would be retrieved or sunk or possibly swept over the falls.

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