More choppers overhead: This time it’s Vt. National Guard medevac training

October 10, 2020  |  By Lisa Scagliotti

Vermont Army National Guard medevac helicopters (UH-60 Blackhawk, front; smaller UH-72 Lakota in back) are conducting trainings this fall in the region often with several aircraft at a time. Photo by 2nd Lt. Nathan Rivard, Vt. National Guard.

Their sound echoes off the Worcester Range before they come into view. Once overhead, their sound and sight command attention even in a town where street noise has reached a full crescendo lately with much of Main Street under construction. 

But the Vermont Army National Guard helicopters recently seen flying over Duxbury and Waterbury in straight-line formation are not on a surveillance mission or involved with additional aerial tree-trimming along the railroad corridor. 

The exercises that have featured up to five military aircraft in a precision pattern are part of the guard’s regular training to prepare for emergency response calls such as when the tactical helicopter crew works in tandem with responders on the ground. 

It’s called “standard readiness level training” according to Maj. Scott Detweiler, acting deputy spokesman for the Vermont National Guard. 

The training missions involve medical evacuation aircraft -- larger helicopter UH-60 Blackhawks and smaller UH-72 Lakota -- that operate from the Vermont Army National Guard aviation facility on the north end of Burlington International Airport in South Burlington. 

“Our helicopters fly locally frequently in order to maintain proficiency in several areas including piloting and maintaining the aircraft, conducting training scenarios and practicing hoisting operations (lifting a litter from the ground into a hovering aircraft),” Detweiler explained. 

The training was especially useful on Aug. 14 when a National Guard rescue helicopter was called by first responders in Plainfield who were treating an injured hiker who had fallen from the fire tower on Spruce Mountain. The chopper carrying a paramedic in its crew managed to hoist the patient with leg injuries to the hovering aircraft that then flew to her to UVM Medical Center in about 30 minutes. 

The operation included local first responders on the ground from multiple communities including Waterbury Backcountry Rescue. 

Afterward, the Army National Guard unit recorded a video with crew members describing this “real-world mission” that mirrored their training so much that flight paramedic Sgt. Tim Farrow said, “It almost felt like second nature.” 

Remarkably, the crew members said the Northfield rescue was a first for the National Guard medevac unit. “This was the first live sked mission Vermont has ever done,” said Sgt. Carlton Quennville, a flight engineer, referring to the rigid device used to carry the patient. “We train for this scenario all the time and when it comes down to reality, there’s an actual person that, as far as we know, has a broken back and a possible broken neck.” 

Farrow said regular training is important to keep crew members familiar and ready for when a real-life call comes. “For us to do what we do, someone has to be having a pretty bad day,” he said.

See the medevac crew video at dvidshub.net/video/764377/aviation-hoist-air-lift.