58th SOW conducts 1st CV-22 search, rescue

  • Published
  • By Lt. Col. John A. Bernhart II
  • 58th Special Operations Wing
KIRTLAND AIR FORCE BASE, New Mexico --  Early on the morning of Oct. 5, the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center, Langley AFB, Va., requested the 58th Special Operations Wing here to assist a civil search and rescue for a potential downed aircraft.

Late the night before, the FAA had lost radar contact with a Beech C-90A aircraft carrying three people enroute from Chinle, Ariz. to Alamosa, Colo. - somewhere over the rugged expanses of the San Juan Wilderness Area in southwestern Colorado.

Civil authorities initiated a search, but the low cloud ceiling and high winds prevented available civilian aircraft from conducting close searches of probable crash sights.

58th SOW maintenance teams quickly prepared four aircraft to assist in the rescue mission. The HH-60G helicopter would have to be stripped of all unnecessary equipment to support the high altitude rescue mission.

One hour and fifty minutes from notification, a 58th SOW CV-22 Osprey tilt-rotor sprang into the air for the 200-mile sprint to the search area, quickly followed by an MC-130P Combat Shadow special operations aerial refueler and two HH-60G Pave Hawk rescue helicopters, all with accompanying pararescuemen from Kirtland's 342nd Training Squadron Detachment 1.

Because of its tilt-rotor design, which allows the CV-22 to take off like a helicopter but fly like an airplane, the Osprey could fly faster and it arrived first on-scene and started the search effort.

The Shadow arrived in support of the CV-22 and - due to its crew of experienced special operations and rescue professionals - assumed on-scene mission command.

As the weather cleared, the Shadow aircrew located a potential crash site. The Osprey aircrew braved the weather to make a low pass and confirmed the crash site to be in the vicinity of 11,677-foot high Charley's Peak.

The Combat Shadow crew then directed two Pave Hawk helicopters up the valley to the crash site led by the CV-22. Hovering above the crash and buffeted by high winds, one HH-60 off-loaded a PJ into the site with its rescue hoist. Unfortunately the PJ found no survivors.

The team remained to assist with the recovery effort until relieved by civilian ground teams.