PA-HART: Search and Rescue

On March 6, 2014, the Pennsylvania Helicopter Aquatic Rescue Team completed "Operation Spring Thaw" training at Butler County Community College Public Safety Training Center. The training consisted of using 2 UH-60 Blackhawks and 2 AH-64 Apache helicopters. Victims were first extracted from a building rooftop using the helicopter rescue basket. The second iteration was a search for missing victims. The AH-64 Apache helicopters used their sophisticated technology to locate the victims. Once located, they provided the coordinates to the UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters. The PA-HART rescue technicians were then lowered to the victims on a jungle penetrator. They secured the victims and then hoisted them back to the Blackhawk. The use of the AH-64 Apache helicopter was a historic event for PA-HART. This was the first time they were integrated into our training for search and rescue application and over watch.