Utah National Guard pilots rescue injured hiker in ‘treacherous’ night mission

The 2-211th General Support Aviation Battalion of the Utah National Guard hoisted a seriously injured 20-year-old man off the face of the Uintah Mountains, Utah, US, late on 18 October.

The casualty was located about a third of the way up the north face of the mountain, at the bottom of Anderson Pass at Henry Fork. The Guard said the pilots and crew were able to hover in the dark canyon and hoist the injured hiker onto their Black Hawk helicopter at approximately 23:00 hrs. The patient was flown onboard the UH-60 to a meadow that was used as the landing zone, where he was transferred onto a Life Flight helicopter for transportation to Intermountain Medical Center.

The Guard completed the mission in co-ordination with the Utah Department of Public Safety and Summit County Search and Rescue. The Department of Public Safety's helicopter was onsite, assisting on the ground, but its personnel weren’t authorised to perform the very difficult night hoist, said the Guard.

The crew comprised: Sgt 1st Class Zack Kessler, medic; pilots Chief Warrant Officer 3 Brady Cloward and Chief Warrant Officer 3 Tyler Hobbs; and Sgt Jordan Archibald, crew chief.