SAR is a Team Effort: Featuring HRT member Tom Healy

It was a cold May day in 2016 at the Crane Flat Helibase. Tom Healy had already gone through ground school and flawlessly repelled the 50 ft. training towers 12-18 times. Before he ever had the chance to get off the ground for a true helicopter rappel he was required to do “mockups.” He got inside the pilotless helicopter and practiced procedures. Over and over he disconnected his helmet radio and hooked it into his chest radio, clipped and unclipped buckles, he went through the motions building the muscle memory of safe procedures. 

Photo Credit a US Park Ranger

After “mockups” Healy was cleared to do “lives.” He would have to complete 9 rappels to pass. As the helicopter lifted, nervousness and excitement mounted. It would be his first time rappelling from the air. The helicopter rose then it stopped and hovered-- the door opened. “I remember a blast of cold air on my face, being on the skids, like you’re balanced and the helicopter is kinda shaking and you’re waiting for the spotter to give you the go ahead signal… It’s this commitment point.” Once you leave the skid it’s imperative to get off the rope as quickly as possible. “If something goes wrong with the helicopter the spotter’s emergency procedure is to cut the rope and then however far you are from the ground is how far you will fall… So 10 seconds, 12 seconds maybe” to rappel 200-250 feet.* 

Healy rappelled-- again and again and again. After the second or third rappel he remembers laughing, and thinking ‘I’m getting paid to do this, I would do this for free, but I’m getting paid.’” 

HRT training also includes short haul, and hoist with a California Highway Patrol helicopter, but a lot of HRT missions are just “getting on the helicopter and doing load and goes.... They’re looking for you to be the on scene operations... or at least one of the more experienced people in the backcountry where there are limited resources to help… You have to be able to show up and bring some experience and confidence to make sure it goes smoothly and safely for everyone.” The best HRT members “can meet that balance between being confident and assertive when they need to be, but also humble and thoughtful.”

Healy had been working in rescue for some time before becoming an HRT member. In rescue, risk is a feature of the job, but with helicopter rescue even if the risk is low the consequence is high. “If something goes wrong, it can go really wrong, really quickly, and sometimes there’s not a whole lot you can do. So when you get [in] you are quietly committing to the rescue... you have to kind of be okay with what could go wrong. It's this committing partner relationship, I’m trusting the ship, I’m trusting the gear, I’m trusting the people, and I’m trusting the training. We’re gonna go do the rescue, and hopefully it all goes well.” 

Tom Healy in flight.
Photo Credit a US Park Ranger

Knowing the risks and managing missions safely is a top priority and having an incredible crew that you can rely on and trust is of utmost importance to a safe and effective mission. “Without the women and men of Yosemite Helitack, the pilots, mechanics, and fuel truck operators, and their commitment to aviation safety we would be nothing. They make it all happen, and they do it very well-- making a challenging and difficult job look classy.” HRT also utilizes safety checks such as GAR assessments and buddy checks throughout the mission. If the mission doesn’t feel safe, HRT won’t fly it. “The Helicopter is the last emergent resort, if we can figure out another safer and more efficient alternative to affect a rescue then we will.

For Healy, repetition of safety procedures and protocol also extends to a personal practice. Before a mission, during takeoff, he recites Robert Frost’s Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening to get into a good headspace. “I have that poem memorized and I’ll quietly say it in my head before we take off and it provides me with a little peace of mind and a little calm before whatever scenario we are going to.” Healy says that the missions don’t get easier or less dangerous, but with experience comes confidence. You know what to expect, and how you’re going to feel, because you’ve already had that opportunity before.   

Buddy Checks
Photo Credit Megan Wimberley

Being able to rely on the muscle memory of performing procedures over and over is valuable, because sometimes it is the only thing you do know with certainty. When a call comes in you don’t always have all the details, you don’t always know exactly what you are getting into. February 24, 2019 was one such rescue. A call came in reporting a hiker who had been seriously injured by falling ice and rock in an area that was closed due to severe hazards. “It sounded like she was unconscious, but breathing and alive. Healy knew, “at least via the report, that the person had been critically injured.” 

Upon arrival, the area was determined to be significantly hazardous but Healy decided to enter the area to attempt a rescue. What he didn’t know is that 4 other hikers had gone down to try to help the injured person and became trapped themselves. It was an incredibly dangerous situation with falling rock, ice, and avalanching snow. In Healy’s terms, a “death gully.” 

Healy found the injured hiker and determined that they were deceased. He then guided the remaining hikers to a boulder to help protect them from falling debris. Ranger Jack Hoeflich deemed the area too dangerous for additional YOSAR members to enter. He entered the area himself, setting up a system of ropes in preparation to extricate Healy and the survivors. 

After assessing the survivors Healy and Hoeflich determined that the area was far too treacherous for them to exit on foot and called for a helicopter. The survivors were extracted and the body of the deceased was hoisted out. With rock and ice actively falling around them, Healy and Hoflich were the last to be hoisted out. During their extraction a large avalanche occurred very near them. “It could have taken out the helicopter... Ice chunks and rock came really close to going through the rotor; it would have been really bad for everyone.”

There were a lot of close calls, but luckily no additional lives were lost. Healy and Hoeflich received the Valor Award from the U.S. Department of the Interior, one of the department’s highest awards given to an employee who risks their own life in attempting to save the lives of others.

Helicopter rescues often receive a lot of recognition from the public. There is nothing quiet or unassuming about a helicopter-- when there is one around you know it. People are intrigued by them and drawn to the veneer of sexiness of being whisked away on a short haul rope to do a big wall rescue. Healy says that rescues can be fun, “but the fact of the matter is that SAR is a huge team effort, with a lot of moving parts and valuable members with varying skills.

“None of us can go off and do the thing for the rescue unless someone else is doing their job somewhere else. Whether that is someone else covering patrol calls or one paramedic gets to go fly in the helicopter and do the rescue and the other paramedic has to stay and guard the ambulance. Somebody has to make the coffee and do the paperwork. Somebody has to do the budget and accounting. Somebody has to do the Family Liaison Officer component and each one of those elements makes the team work. So I think being pretty humble about that… knowing that the whole rest of the team is allowing you to go do that should not be lost on people.”

Firefighters stand at the ready as a helicopter lands in the Ahwahnee Meadow.

Photo Credit: Megan Wimberley

Healy has served on the YOSAR team for nine years, and learned a lot through his experiences. He says he’s gained more patience and a respect for quiet, calm, and peaceful moments. Experiencing “a lot of the tragic SARs and medicals...I am way more appreciative of people's time… I want to have quality experiences and quality time with people. Because I’m very aware of how quickly that can change.”

We are so grateful for Tom and all that he brought to the YOSAR team and the Yosemite community. We wish him all the best on his new adventure in Cape Cod National Seashore. 

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,

But I have promises to keep,

And miles to go before I sleep, 

And miles to go before I sleep.

Photo Credit: A US Park Ranger

*Rappel Ropes are 300 ft. to allow rescuers to clear trees

*Short Haul ropes are150 ft.