POWELL COUNTY, Ky. — A new video shows a jaw-dropping perspective on a helicopter rescue in the Red River Gorge on Monday. It was shot by one of the rescuers and shows the conditions the crew faced as they made a landing high on top of a pinnacle.
Video released by Kentucky State Police shows the view out the side of their UH-1 Huey as it approaches Courthouse Rock in the Red River Gorge. Four Asbury University students had become stranded atop the pinnacle after snow fell while they were camping. Captain Brad Austin was at the controls, called in by the Powell County Search and Rescue teams on the ground.
"Those guys are excellent rope technicians, and when those guys are telling me, 'Man, there's not a way we're going to be able to do this without substantial risk or danger,' that lets you know that that's when the aviation asset's worth putting it in play," Austin said.
The video shows a rescuer waving to ground teams as well as the stranded hikers huddled among the trees.
"It was pristine and beautiful coming in, because we're flying over the Red River Gorge. It was snow-covered and all that, but as we got closer, we recognized that they were on a high pinnacle, white-out conditions from blowing snow was a possibility. That's something we had to kind of mitigate. We were able to mitigate that with our approach. We were able to land and pick them up, which was safer than trying to do hoist operations where we would have had to go two at a time or single pick-ups at a time, which would have took much longer," Austin said.
As the helicopter approached its landing zone, Austin said everyone on board played a role.
"The pilot flying's going to be just basically keeping the aircraft under control and putting it in the right spot. The co-pilot over there's monitoring all the instruments and systems and making sure he's within limits. The guys in the back are clearing obstacles, clearing things around the helicopter. Everybody's talking and everybody's involved in that landing. That landing can't be done safely without the entire crew," he said.
The rotor wash kicked up snow all around them. Seconds after the chopper touched down, the Red STAR Wilderness EMS rescuer reached the hikers.
"Stay low! Head straight to that man! Straight to him!" the rescuer shouted to the hikers over the roar of the helicopter's rotors.
Austin said he's grateful they made the right call to stay put when they realized they needed help.
"I am grateful, though, that they did recognize that they were a tough situation and went ahead and gave us the call versus doing something that might have put them in an even worse position and then we wouldn't have been able to effect the rescue as easily as it was done," he said.
Less than a minute after they first touched down, the chopper was back in the air, climbing away from Courthouse Rock. It was a short hop from there to drop off those hikers at the Middle Fork Fire Department, then the trip back home full of the satisfaction that comes with saving four lives.
"I do like to look around and say I've got one of the best jobs you could ever ask for. I enjoy the flying aspect. It's good to be able to get out and help people. We were happy to be able to help them out of a little sticky situation that they found themselves in and it's hard to beat that kind of job," Austin said.