March 2003 - American Bonanza Society

•Rescue byhelicopterBY JOHN M. MILLERPOUGHKEEPSIE, NEW YORKAfter I retired from Eastem AirLines, I un-retired and establisheda one-man helicopterchaner operation under FAA Pan 135,which I carried on for a few years withmy Bell 47G-C3 helicopter. It had beenconverted from three-place to fourplace,hence the C-3 designation. Thebubble had been extended forward onefoot and the pilot station was in forwardcenter, so three passengers could sit onthe bench seat behind me. I was on24-hour call, day and night. especiallyfor emergencies from the sheriffs'departments of my home and surroundingcounties.One very cold and windy winterafternoon. I received a rush ca ll fromthe sheriff to fly to Beacon. New York,on the east bank of the Hudson River,opposite Newburgh . I picked up adeputy sheriff and took off. From theeast bank of the river, I could see a massof large and small floating ice fragments,some as big as passenger cars, alljammed against the east shore by thevery strong, 17-degree 30 mph westwind. Ice covered more than half of themile-wide river, blown by the strongwest wind against the east shore. Thesun was about to set.In the middle of the river, half amile out there in that forbidding mass ofgrinding icebergs, I saw two youngboys completely trapped in the tinyshell of a wood dinghy boat. There wereno power boats available for rescuesince all local boats had been storedashore for the winter-and they couldnot have pushed their way through thatice field anyway. The nearest CoastGuard Cutter was 70 mile away in thesalt water of New York Bay.I realized it wou ld be only about anhour before the boys would surely die ofthe cold after the sun went down. Theywere inadequately clothed for such bittercold weather and Lhey did not haveeven an oar, just a small piece of oldlumber. The little wood boat was beingslowly attacked by the huge icebergs.[learned after Iheir rescue that theboys had found the boat on thewest shore and had been blown by thatstrong wind, helplessly, into the icepack where they had been trapped bymore ice blown against Lhe boat formore than two hours before we arrived.The deputy and I removed the RHdoor of the bubble in preparation for therescue and I took off solo. The boys'boat WliS aligned nonh-south across thestrong wind. Heading west into thewind, I very gently settled the skids ofthe helicopter across the gunwales ofthe boat so the boys could climb aboard.Since flying a helicopter requiresboth hands, I motioned with my head forthem 10 climb into the cabin, but theywere too frightened to make the highclimb. So I lifted off. turned the helicoptercrosswind headed south along the eastside of the boat, and maneuvered so thatthe RH skid very gently touched the iceright alongside the boat. That put thecabin floor lower and the two boysclimbed aboard. [t was a "triple R"­rather risky rescue. Fonunately, a rotordoes not care which way the wind isblowing, and the Bell 47 has an opensteel tube tail frame through which astrong cross wind can blow. I quicklyflew the boys ashore and the deputy tookthem to their homes in Newburgh.An engine failure or a mistake byme would have crashed me into that icyriver without any chance of survival. [would have perished quickly, alongwith the boys. I never heard a wordfrom their parents, bUI [ did geL a nicemedal from the sheriff.Now, just guess what happenedshonly after Lhat incident, while [ wasflying across the Catskill Mountainswith dense forest under me in all directions.I was watch ing the engine instrumentsdiligently when [ actually saw theoil pressure hand quickly go to zero!I saw a tiny meadow down in anarrow valley, so with idle power, Iquickly descended , and used justenough power to make a gentle landing.The helicopter had to be transponed tothe shop to determine the cause of thepressure failure. I'm surely glad it didnot happen when I had been over the icefield only a very shan time earlier. [ waslucky again.During the past 76 years, ABS member John Millerhas flown just about everything from Jennys to jets.John welcomes comments. Write him at 201Kingwood Pork. PoughkeepSie, NY 1260 1.ABS March 2003Page 7721