Below is a recent post from an aviation forum. Nice story with some real-life lessons and a video.


Grand Canyon Helo Evac, Lessons

This thread isn't strictly RV related but it's aviation and safety related and it certainly has safety lessons that could be of use in the event of aircraft emergencies. Sorry if this is long...

On March 30, I launched on a private Grand Canyon Float trip with 15 others. The trip was scheduled for 19 days, 280 river miles. I've rafted big whitewater but it was my first time on the Grand Canyon. There were 75 combined GC trips between the other boaters - lot's of experience, which is one reason I went. The National Park Service (NPS) tells you to bring a satellite phone for emergencies, which we did. For the heck of it, I also packed my VHF comm radio, Spot Tracker, and Personal Locator Beacon.

All was well, water was clear, weather was good, rapids were run, until Day 11 when one of our rafts (the boater with the most experience by far) flipped in a rapid near Mile 113. He and his wife were both ejected from the boat but she was trapped under it. He was able to pull her from under the boat below the rapid but her arm/shoulder had been injured. He was in shock and very cold, we couldn't rule out injury to him, but he was in no condition to continue. Both are approximately 65 years old.

After righting the raft and stabilizing the injured, we floated downstream to find a landing zone and started trying to get out on the Sat phone. No connection.

When we found a beach with potential LZs, I activated my Spot Tracker SOS signal and set it on a rock to do its thing. Then I started working the frequencies on the VHF comm radio. I knew we were in the middle of a no-fly zone that prohibits air tours and private flight to 14,400' msl so my best chance was to get a commercial flight. After a couple minutes broadcasting on 121.5, I got a response from a Southwest Airlines flight overhead. He asked how he could help and I relayed the NPS emergency phone number, information on the injured, and our location on the river. He said he would relay the info to LA Center and try to contact me back to let me know if he got through. A few minutes later he called back and said ATC was making the call. Then I lost him. I tried for almost 2 more hours to get any other flight - on 121.5 and all the ARTCC frequencies as well as the VFR frequencies - with no luck. And we could see commercial flights overhead. I found out later that NPS rescue got the call from ARTCC 5 minutes after I called SWA. Impressive.

We did not get out on the Sat phone until over an hour later, and only then by climbing quite a ways up the canyon. When we did, NPS told us they would be there in 90 minutes, but actually showed up about 40 minutes later.

We learned some lessons that could be of use in lots of circumstances, including an off airport landing:

1. Sat phones are unreliable, may not get connections and they can drop you after a minute or two. Getting a connection was tougher in the canyon, but you can get dropped anywhere and you don't know where you will be that could make getting a connection difficult. However, if they work they allow the best and most direct 2-way communication.
2. Having a comm radio was a HUGE help, allowed us to get the word to NPS rescue in 5 minutes as well as communicate with the helo during approach and landing. They told us they wished everyone on the canyon had one and knew how to use it. NPS Helitack does NOT monitor 121.5 as a normal procedure, but that day their pilot was monitoring it and actually heard SWA respond to my first call.
3. They did not launch after hearing SWA talking to me or getting the call from ATC because they wanted more information - they did not receive the condition information of the second person and they did not know if we had stopped and were setting up an LZ. It is important to give them as much info as possible. They assumed that since we had contacted a plane that they would be hearing from us to provide the additional information. Which turned out to be true with us but it might not be in another situation.
4. I used the Spot Tracker to send "OK" messages every evening during the trip when we got off the river and it got out every time without trouble. It also got out on the SOS signal immediately. However, NPS did not receive the call from the Spot signal until over an hour after the call from ARTCC.
5. I debriefed with the Spot folks and they said that most people do not use the "additional information" field when programming the SOS button online. On the website, you can add text that they will receive along with the SOS signal and GPS location. I wrote that I would be in the GC and any SOS signal would mean an emergency in the canyon and NPS should be contacted. They said that was a HUGE help in expediting their response. I had never used it before setting it up for this trip. If you have a Spot, consider writing something in this field that will help them expedite response for whatever scenario you anticipate.
6. Not many commercial planes monitor 121.5 but the day after I got home I happened to meet a SWA pilot who told me that they just recently added it to their SOPs. You certainly can't count on getting someone on 121.5, but if you know the center and CTAF frequencies in the area you may very well be able to reach an aircraft for help. I'll be writing a letter of thanks to SWA.
7. In debriefing with the NPS incident commander he said they "always launch" on a Spot SOS signal, but do so reluctantly because they receive so many false alarms. One woman sent the Spot SOS signal because her water "tasted salty." So a Spot is a great tool to have, and will probably bring help, but use it responsibly.
8. Overall, we were successful because we had redundant communications and knew how to use them. We would have gotten out with any of them eventually, but having all of them expedited the response. We could have done some things better and will if it happens again.

The injured boaters are recovering and will be fine. The NPS flight crew was impressive and I can't thank SWA enough (but I will try), along with LA Center for a fast relay.

I hope this information is useful to someone.

A short video is at the following link to show you what it was like:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QbZ9QRXx2U

Great AAR, thanks for the cross post.

Any idea on the radio information? Is this a HAM, or some other radio equipment? 121.5 ... MHz? I don't know squat about HAM radios, and the test to get your license really doesn't seem to need information (very technical and electronics based, not useful information based)

121.5 MHz is the global emergency frequency used by aviation and others. The term used is 'guard' because it's monitored by many, hence the term guard. 121.5 does not require a ham license.

That was an aviation handheld VHF radio.

Some amateur handhelds can transmit on 121.5 (the aviation VHF emergency frequency).

Outstanding. You were equipped, you knew what to do, you communicated, and you got the job done. Great report.

I had no idea that commercial flights didn't typically monitor 121.5 -- I was under the impression that they were required to do so.

Why did it take so long for SPOT's RCC to make a call to the NPS?

VHF guard is 121.5 MHz and if you double the frequency to 243.0 MHz you get UHF guard (aka military air distress), sometimes referred to as Air Force common These are similar to Marine VHF Channel 16. I have wondered if VHF guard would be useful during an emergency, now we know.

KTOA, very interesting. Thanks for posting. A couple of comments:

It would be interesting to know which sat phone they were using? Any satellite device (sat phone, SPOT, PLB, etc) depends on having a satellite visible to connect to. Different devices use different satellite constellations, so one may work better than another in a given situation. For example, here in Alaska and other northern areas, Iridium works much better than Globalstar. Dropped calls are often the result of the satellite moving to a point where it's signal is masked by terrain. Climbing higher to a point with a better view of the sky is always a good thing to try. SPOTs and PLBs have an advantage in that if they even get a momentary contact with a satellite their short message with you coordinates can get out.

One disadvantage of SPOT (relative to a PLB) is that it is a private commercial company, hence a distress message to SPOT must be fowarded to the appropriate RCC. This adds another link to the chain, which may delay things and has the potential for garbled data. A PLB signal goes directely to the RCC, hence there is one less link in the chain. There are, of course, other reasons why one might choose a SPOT. Either is a good thing to have.

Back in the day, (before sat phones, PLB, and SPOT) people doing trips in remote areas of Alaska sometimes carried aviation band handheld radios for just such emergency situations as you describe. This was often the only practical way to call for rescue. I recall hearing of cases where a party in the Brooks Range were able to contact a passing airliner to relay a distress message. It does work.

Having multiple, redundant means of calling for help is a very good thing. If one doesn't work, the others might. In the recent controversial "Rebel Heart" sailboat rescue, they had an EPIRB, SSB, and sat phone. The SSB failed but the sat phone worked. SPOT and PLBs are great, but only send a location and preplanned message. The ability to have two way voice comms with rescuers is huge.

On the website, you can add text that
they will receive along with the SOS signal and
GPS location.

Could that text include a link to a trip itinerary, participant information, equipment list, etc? The same sort of information that a backpacker would put in an "Open in case of" envelope before PLBs, SPOTs, and Sat phones.

Be sure to include an aluminum foil impression of your boot print...(Some of us can't help living in the past)

"7. In debriefing with the NPS incident commander he said they "always launch" on a Spot SOS signal, but do so reluctantly because they receive so many false alarms. One woman sent the Spot SOS signal because her water "tasted salty." So a Spot is a great tool to have, and will probably bring help, but use it responsibly."

This is a crucial point. Grand Canyon Nat'l Park is a hot spot for SAR within the National Park service - a combination of high volume visitation and forbidding terrain -please use responsibly. Some don't - the party triggering their SPOT for salty water did so for the third time in two days.

Thanks for the informative report.