ROCKET Rescue crew re-currency training in Johannesburg

Author: Patrick Wallet, Executive Head: Rescue

ROCKET’s Rescue Division recently conducted an ab initio (initial) short-haul/long-line training course for five of our medical flight crew in Johannesburg.

Course candidates receive access to an online course content link ahead of the course, and read through it and complete pre-tests for sub-sets of the online content before their arrival at the course. Day 1 starts with an online theory test covering all of the course content, with an immediate test result, after which the theory is worked through and referenced in a more practical way, which lines us up for the next two to three days of practical training.

Mastering the Art of Helicopter Rescue: Training in the General Flying Area

The practical training is done in the General Flying area (GF) at Kromvlei, south of Johannesburg, where the students are exposed to the art of pattering the helicopter—bearing in mind that neither of the pilots in control of the aircraft can see the strops, rescuer, or patient below the aircraft in a rescue scenario. This means that the ‘patterer’ must instruct the pilot-in-command in a three-dimensional space, working in feet when in the vertical plane and in meters when in the horizontal plane, guiding the rescuer hanging approximately 100 ft. below the aircraft into an often-confined space, allowing them to conduct the rescue.

Once the ‘art of the patter’ has been introduced, the patterer will continue to practice this while we then introduce the rescuer into their role hanging below the aircraft, introducing hand signals and various forms of communication.

Essential ROCKET Rescue Equipment and Techniques for Efficient Patient Retrieval

We introduce the equipment used to retrieve the types of patients that we expect to encounter in the rescue setting, from a straightforward pick-up in a harness through to an immobilized patient who will need to be retrieved using a specific rescue basket stretcher. Again, bearing in mind that we need to make use of this equipment as quickly and efficiently as possible while still ensuring that the patient is safely packaged and secured for their flight from point A to B, wherever they may be. All of this equipment, together with the patient, then needs to be controlled in flight under the aircraft by both the ‘patterer’ and rescuer using various techniques.

Successful Certification Through Dynamic Helicopter Rescue Training

The amount of coordination required between the pilots, the patterer, the rescuer, and crew on the ground, all around a helicopter that is running ‘hot’, makes for a challenging and ever-changing environment. The continual feedback from our pilots, who draw from their extensive backgrounds in this kind of work, along with the course instructors and the students, who all have varying rescue backgrounds, makes for a course with ever-evolving tweaks to improve systems, where everyone’s input is welcomed.

We are very happy to announce that all five students successfully passed both the theory component (all with over 90%) as well as the practical components and are now certified rescue crew.

This is, however, not where it stops. All our rescue crew are required to maintain their rescue currency at a minimum of every 90 days by attending training that is held monthly at one of our two rescue bases, and to be integrated into our existing rescue crew.