How NOT to Handle a Mission
Just got word, however it may be a rumor, that the Piper Tomahawk that went down in Georgia last week could have in fact been a save.
We know for a fact that the gentleman that went down exited the aircraft and got into a sleeping bag, meaning he WAS in fact alive post crash. There were several GT's available to be dispatched, however the Wing in question (State in which he was found) was too busy doing a training exercise to change gears and look for a real world emergency.
While no one is wild about night ops, when someone's life may hang in the balance, who cares what time of day it is? Shouldn't every available resource been dispatched?
We train to SAVE people's lives, not wait until we are with a wing exercise and then go look for them. IF and only IF this rumor that we've come across is in fact true, this rests on the conscience of whoever dragged their feet.
-1stLT Chris Bishop (AVGASPASSER)
I cannot but wholeheartedly echo Chris' sentiments. If this rumor is true I am deeply saddened and disgusted that a life that could have been saved was relegated away because of someone's schedule. We may be volunteers but we are tasked with a specific mission, one we are expected to fulfill to the best of our abilities. If the wing is question could truly not respond they had merely to make a phone call to the SC wing, all of which were on alert ready to be deployed, myself included.
-TFO Andrew Beckham (SAREX)
We know for a fact that the gentleman that went down exited the aircraft and got into a sleeping bag, meaning he WAS in fact alive post crash. There were several GT's available to be dispatched, however the Wing in question (State in which he was found) was too busy doing a training exercise to change gears and look for a real world emergency.
While no one is wild about night ops, when someone's life may hang in the balance, who cares what time of day it is? Shouldn't every available resource been dispatched?
We train to SAVE people's lives, not wait until we are with a wing exercise and then go look for them. IF and only IF this rumor that we've come across is in fact true, this rests on the conscience of whoever dragged their feet.
-1stLT Chris Bishop (AVGASPASSER)
I cannot but wholeheartedly echo Chris' sentiments. If this rumor is true I am deeply saddened and disgusted that a life that could have been saved was relegated away because of someone's schedule. We may be volunteers but we are tasked with a specific mission, one we are expected to fulfill to the best of our abilities. If the wing is question could truly not respond they had merely to make a phone call to the SC wing, all of which were on alert ready to be deployed, myself included.
-TFO Andrew Beckham (SAREX)
posted by Becks at 16:24
7 Comments:
This is terrible, I hope it is not true. Having an active training exercise should DECREASE response time, not increase it, because you already have a mission base set up and a bunch of resources to re-task.
This comment has been removed by the author.
I can remember back in March or May of '06 that we were training and suddenly got a mission. I was in the Comms room when that came through with the SDIS people, and it was amazing to see the switch from training to real-mission mode. Nearly instantly all our resources were directed to finding the actual call. An aircrew was dispatched within 10 minutes and ground teams were re-routed to the area
I would venture to say that this recent incident is the exception to the rule and not the rule itself.
(Maybe something we should consider is giving aircrews 12-hour shifts like the volunteer Rescue Squads. That way, there is always a crew ready to respond.)
(previous comment deleted due to lack of clarity. This user will henceforth proofread his statements before posting)
I sincerely hope this is just a rumor! If not, how very, very sad.
I've certainly said before that the best time to go down is during a major Search and Rescue Exercise because all the assets are already mobilized. However, at the end of the day when all the aircrews are pushing the end of their duty day, a major SAREX may be the worst time to put together a mission.
(But, our wings should all have so many highly trained aircrews that a SAREX does little to reduce mission capability!)
-n
Just as a reminder to all... Ground teams are equally important as air crews. Sure, an air crew can find a crash site or isolate an ELT, but only a ground team can secure a crash site/treat victims or pinpoint and silence an ELT, and can theoretically do both without the aid of an air crew, it just takes longer.
So far the only thing I have heard about here is air crews. *Walks away whistling*
The plane was found by GA GT's, but only after they had finished their exercise the next day.
If this is true then someone should be held accountable for their actions, for not going ahead and doing the mission.Im from S. Ga and ive not heard about this incident.
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