Busy as Bees
Friday, November 20, 2009 - Ted Carlson, Vertical 911 Magazine

Every day, the three-pilot, two-helicopter unit of the Utah Highway Patrol shows that even a small airborne agency can do big things — and stay very busy. Ted Carlson reports in this story from the Fall issue of Vertical 911.

Beehives are a productive place: full of the hustle and bustle of buzzing aerial activity as bees travel to and from their home base. The Utah state logo, interestingly, just happens to be a beehive, and that emblem also adorns a pair of pristine, metallic brown, Eurocopter AS 350B2 AStars operated by the Utah Highway Patrol (UHP).

The beehive insignias are more than appropriate for these AStars, reflecting just how busy the organization's aircraft and crews truly are. Based at Salt Lake City International Airport, UHP employs its B2s in array of diverse missions. From search and rescue, to counter-narcotics, to wildlife control, these “busy bees” earn their keep.

Trooper Terry Mercer sets his AStar down on this rock pinnacle during an actual rescue in order to extract the unfortunate victim. Safety is paramount for these pilots and great care is taken not to become “victims themselves.” The risk was carefully weighed in this situation, and what you see is about as small of a landing area as the Utah pilots will attempt. Lieut. Cory Pulsipher Photo

The Aircraft
The Utah Highway Patrol received its first helicopters, Hughes TH-55s (military version of the 269/300), in 1988; then transitioned to Hughes OH-6 Cayuses (military version of the 369/500) in 1991, and to Bell OH-58A Kiowas (military 206 JetRangers) in 1996. Finally, in 2001, the agency received its AStars, which are well suited for the local area and the types of missions UHP flies.

The AStars were purchased from a local agency just prior to the 2002 Winter Olympics, which was held in and around Salt Lake City. To date, each ship is around 6,000 flight hours into its airframe life. Each helicopter averages about 350 flight hours per year, and is well maintained on contract by Helicopter Services of Utah, based out of Woods Cross.

The two AStars have law enforcement radio packages, night-vision-goggle-compatible cockpit lighting, 30-40 million-candlepower Spectrolab SX-16 Nightsun spotlights and Garmin global-positioning-system receivers. One of the helicopters also has a state-of-the-art FLIR Systems Ultra 8500 forward-looking infrared camera; the other is equipped with an older Inframetrics model.

Capt. Steve Rugg banks his AStar. The cockpit contains all of the contemporary bells and whistles found in most helicopter cockpits today, including a law enforcement radio package. Ted Carlson Photo

As equipped, the AStars work well for the agency, as pilot and UHP trooper Terry Mercer will tell you. Mercer, a former United States Navy H-3 Sea King pilot, has amassed some 12,000 flight hours to date, and served with the Highway Patrol for over 17 years, the last nine in a flight role. Said Mercer, “The AStar works well for our mission and with the FLIR, Nightsun and goggles, it all comes together as a comprehensive package — we are fortunate to have them.”

The unit, though, would like to transition to the AS 350B3 model, which has more-powerful full-authority-digital-engine-control-regulated engines for extra performance. It would also like to replace the older infrared camera on the one helicopter with another Ultra 8500. However, with the economy less than robust, budgets everywhere have dwindled, and the UHP is certainly no exception. As a result, the major items on the unit's wish list have a slim chance of becoming reality in the near future… but for now they are at least "on the list.”

With only two full-time AStar pilots and one part-timer, the Utah Highway Patrol is a true model of efficiency. (In all fairness, the pilots do get spread thin when the action comes, so they have to watch crew rest and related regulations carefully.) Because the helicopters also fall under the Utah Department of Public Safety — UHP is a division of the DPS — they serve a dual agency role, and the AStars and their crews travel all over the state to help many smaller divisions. The ships also provide significant support for those local sheriff's departments that do not have aircraft. In fact, over 75 percent of all of UHP'smissions are flown for agencies outside the DPS, including other state agencies, county sheriff's departments, local police departments and federal law enforcement agencies.

Diverse Missions
Counter-narcotics work is a sizeable slice of the mission pie for UHP's helicopters. And, it is another area where its crews support many other agencies, including the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Customs and Border Protection and any other government agencies that require the use of rotary-wing assets in the state. This counter-narcotics work may include observing transactions from a standoff distance, dropping off teams at known marijuana-growing locations, and hauling marijuana bales away via external 75-foot-long, single-point sling loads. In 2008, the helicopters sling-loaded out more than 98,000 marijuana plants from remote, backcountry grows.

“The other day we came across a marijuana field and we dropped in people with chainsaws,” said Mercer. “They cut down a few trees and created a landing zone for us. We get people in and out where needed.”

The Pilot flies from the right side (the rearview mirrors are noteworthy) while the observer mans the left seat. The observer’s primary weapon of choice is the FLIR Systems imaging sensor, seen facing the camera in this view. Ted Carlson Photo

During manhunts, UHP pilots may fly and drop off special emergency response team (SERT) members. The AStar crews make good use of their FLIR and ANVIS-9 night vision goggle systems during those types of operations. And, the pilots routinely unload SERT and search and rescue teams from the aircraft via “skid-on” landings and low hovers in remote areas with no landing zones.

You can often find the helicopters working natural disasters, too: such as performing fire-spotting or providing support during floods. Wildlife control is yet another important area, and can involve moving herds of critters such as bison or deer. Then there are VIPs that require transportation, such as the governor of Utah. And the helicopters may attend special events around the state — parades, school functions and more — in a public relations role. They have played a significant role in many major events as well, including the 2002 Winter Olympics, the Elizabeth Smart kidnapping, the 2004 southern Utah floods, the disastrous 2007 Utah fire season, the Aron Ralston rescue, the Crandall Canyon mine disaster, and several U.S. presidential visits.

A Utah Highway Patrol AS 350B2 cruises over downtown Salt Lake City where the Mormons’ famous Salt Lake Temple features prominently. The temple dates back to the mid-1800s and is situated in Temple Square. Ted Carlson Photo

To the Rescue
During search and rescue (SAR) missions, the unit often works in conjunction with a variety of search teams on the ground, plus local AirMed and Life Flight air medical helicopters. Quite often during manhunts or SAR cases, smaller agencies will bring fuel trailers to the working areas so the helicopters don't have to top off their tanks or travel long distances to airports to refuel. Each situation is different, though, and the pilots are versatile enough to flex to whatever makes the most sense.

There are times when the pilot will stay with the aircraft and the observer will get out and hike to the victim to render aid. On some rescues, UHP pilots have directed AirMed and Life Flight helicopters to pick up the victims, especially those with potential spinal injuries or other delicate medical conditions. Sometimes UHP helicopters haul the victims out themselves. Terrain and geographic area are always factors: can the pilots even get into an area, or get rescuers to a victim? How will they get the rescuers back to base, and how far away is medical aid? How many victims are there, and how much weight can the aircraft safely take on board?

Mercer recalled several recent rescues: “Earlier this year there was a river flood that we helped with. There were 18 family members trapped and we were extracting five individuals at a time — some were kids. Another time my observer and I located two lost deer hunters that were in bad shape. We were at 8,500 feet, there was a snowstorm, and I had to ‘vertical out' through the trees. So, in order to take them out, for power considerations, my observer had to stay behind. Observers carry a survival pack just for that sort of scenario, in fact. After I took the hunters to safety, I returned back for my observer about a half hour later, just as the weather was closing in. We adjust as necessary to make things happen safely.”

In another instance, Mercer co-ordinated with a search party on the ground to effect a rescue. “There is a quadriplegic that drives a Rhino ATV [all-terrain vehicle] and he likes driving solo in the mountains. It was a cool, rainy day. He rolled it. And when he didn't return, the family called the sheriff's department and they looked for him. There were thunderstorms; the search party finally made their way to the foothills and located him. He was incoherent and I put a Stokes litter in the cabin and took it to the site. We had to carry him over 100 yards to the AStar on a rough trail. We flew him to the hospital and his body core temp was only 78 degrees — he barely survived.”

The Utah Highway Patrol operates two pristine AS 350B2 AStars in a great variety of missions. Ted Carlson Photo

While the pilots serve the key role in airborne missions, observers are of great value as well. Utah Highway Patrol observer Troy Giles is also an investigator for the State Bureau of Investigation. He has served as an observer with the UHP for two years now, although his duties can be somewhat sporadic: sometimes missions occur back-to-back, other times a few weeks may pass without anything happening. Observers also serve as loadmasters, and, as mentioned, may egress the aircraft for weight considerations in certain dire situations to allow the helicopter to take victims to safety.

Asked about memorable missions, Giles responded, “The sand dunes can get out of hand during Easter weekend — so many people with ATVs. The sheriffs task us to provide a helicopter for searches, crowd control and rescues. We did two rescues this past time, with one being late at night. A young couple rolled their ATV down a sharp sand dune face. We were called in and performed a grid search using our NVGs, and with the help of cell-phone traffic we found them. We directed ground crews to them and had them flown out. They were in bad shape, were fading out of consciousness — and our assistance probably saved their lives.

“The other incident was in the daytime and occurred behind a sand mountain. Two motorcyclists were testing their skills and were out quite a ways into the desert. One attempted to jump his bike over the other, but hit him in the head. He was in very bad shape and we took paramedics along with us based on what we had heard. We arrived on scene within minutes, located and stabilized him, and called in AirMed who ultimately flew them out. It is satisfying when you know someone is in dire straits, you find them, rescue them and save lives.”

For these busy bees, though, it's all in a day's work.

Ted Carlson is a professional aviation photojournalist and runs Southern-California-based Fotodynamics.com. He specializes in aerial photography of military and civil aircraft, and his images have adorned over 300 covers of various publications. As a writer, Ted has had hundreds of his articles published worldwide. He can be reached at: fotodynamics@cox.net.

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