Hidden Mountains by Michael Wejchert

Author:Michael Wejchert
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2022-12-02T00:00:00+00:00

Thirteen

When Lauren sent her text at 9:08 p.m., it traveled five thousand miles and several time zones and was received by a dispatcher working for Global Rescue.

Along with the text, the dispatcher received the GPS coordinates from the inReach device, and these they forwarded to the Alaska state troopers. Though technically the state troopers have jurisdiction over rescues, other organizations are often called in. The National Park Service runs its own operation within Denali National Park, where the majority of climbers tend to head in Alaska. If either of these entities needs help, though, they’ll call the Alaska Rescue Coordination Center (AKRCC), which is housed at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, a sprawling complex outside Anchorage that contains the people power and machinery—and expertise—to rescue anyone in Alaska. The AKRCC, run by the federal government, coordinates with multiple agencies to “provide 24-hour rescue coordination capability in support of US military and civil aviation search and rescue (SAR) needs in the Alaska search and rescue region (SRR).” This means monitoring radio frequencies and assisting any entity, such as the National Park Service or state troopers, who need it.

To achieve this, the AKRCC coordinates with the 176th Wing of the Alaska Air National Guard, also housed at Elmendorf. Alaska is the biggest state in the union, and with size comes variety. The squadrons of the 176th are tasked with an oddball assortment of jobs, both in Alaska and abroad. The same guardsman may be called to, say, airlift the abandoned bus that Chris McCandless, the famous protagonist of Into the Wild, lived in for the final two months of his life, or to rescue Saudi fighter pilots who have ditched their F-15 in the Red Sea. Personnel rotate between missions overseas and providing civilian search and rescue in Alaska, operating under the notion that little can provide better training for overseas combat and civilian missions than the state’s varied, taxing terrain and weather.

The 176th Wing is comprised of three separate squadrons: the 210th, 211th, and 212th. The 210th operates an HH-60 Pave Hawk, a modified version of the Sikorsky Black Hawk helicopter outfitted for both combat and civilian search and rescue. The Pave Hawk’s main difference from its more famous counterpart lies in the form of a massive refueling probe that protrudes from the helicopter’s front end, giving a midflight Pave Hawk the profile of a gigantic mosquito.

The 211th rescue squadron, meanwhile, flies an HC-130 Hercules, a variant of the classic Lockheed Martin C-130 military transport plane, which, in one form or another, has flown American military personnel for more than sixty years. A Hercules provides long-range support to the Pave Hawk helicopter. This means being able to refuel the Pave Hawk in midair, by way of two massive hoses that deploy off the external fuel tanks on either side of the wings of the Hercules. The increased fuel capacity allows the aircraft to fly in remote areas without having to land to refuel. A Pave Hawk’s long-range capability is greater than a Black Hawk’s, as much of the space in the rear cabin is taken up by an auxiliary fuel tank.

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