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Missing Medivac helicopter
At a little
after 0700 hrs. Saturday, RMRU member Walt Walker
received a call from Ray Canova, Captain of the
Banning Sheriffs' office. He informed Walt that
the Loma Linda Medivac helicopter was missing in
heavy ground fog between the Banning Pass
Hospital and San Bernardino General Hospital. The
last communication from the chopper carrying a
premature infant, two doctors, a respiratory
therapist, a nurse, and the pilot was received at
a little after midnight. The Captain requested
our Direction-Finding equipment and four of our
members, two for each D.F. receiver. Walt called
Rick Pohlers and asked him to contact Joe
Erickson and the two of them responded with the
No. 2 van to the Colony Kitchen in Beaumont. Walt
then called son Kevin Walker and they rolled in
the No. I van. Walt and Kevin reached Beaumont
first. Upon turning on the D.R. unit, they got a signal from
an Emergency Location Transmitter (ELT). From
there they drove up to nearby Mt. Davis, a high
point looking over the Beaumont area. Again they
got a signal, but now were able to get a bearing.
Walt radioed the direction to the command post.
The Civil Air Patrol also turned in a compass
heading. With the two bearings the command post
was able to triangulate the location on a map,
which put the signal near the end of San Timeteo
Canyon. With the ground fog starting to clear the
San Bernardino Sheriff helicopter was able to fly
one of the compass headings to where the other
bearing came across. It was not long after that,
that a grim message came into base. The crash
site had been located and that there were six
fatalities.
All vehicles
and equipment were moved to San Timeteo Canyon.
The crash was only several hundred yards off the
highway. Our four members were asked to stay and
help in the extrication of the bodies from the
wreckage. Before doing so, the coroner, FAA, and
the National Safety Transportation Board had to
be contacted. Once all were present the sad task
began. Once all the bodies were moved back to the
road, our job was done.
Air crashes
are never easy, and something a rescuer never
gets use to, but sadly enough, are sometimes part
of our job. We of RMRU would like to express our
sympathy to the families and friends for the loss
of a very valuable team of emergency personnel.
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