Paraglider Rescue North Mountain

Written by Nick Nixon

Late afternoon Saturday, a text message was sent to all team members to alert them that a possible mission could be coming for the North Mountain area near the city of San Jacinto. As it turned out, Sheriff's aviation was asking for only one RMRU member to assist on a helicopter rescue. I was selected due to living near to the Hemet Ryan airport.

A male subject had been paragliding off North Mountain and had crashed high on the mountain on a very steep slope. The subject was not injured, but he was unable to move very far due to the danger of beginning an uncontrolled fall/slide down the mountain. It was dark by the time the helicopter deployed.

The pilot located the subject using night vision glasses. I was lowered by hoist and that is an adventure since you can't really see much of the terrain you are being lowered into. The subject was placed in the screamer suit (a sort of jacket with arm holes and a strap between the legs). He was hoisted up to the helicopter and then the hoist was lowered for me. The mission was quick and without incident and ended by 18:30 hours. The Sheriff's aviation flight crew of Mike and Chad did a great job. Thanks guys.

RMRU team members present: Nick Nixon.

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