Summary: This lady was lost in the New Brunswick woods for 13 days. Swampy area, densely wooded. Her gear was jeans and a hoody. And a cell phone, which she lost. She survived on rain and swamp water, and wild berries. Rescued by a power line maintenance crew who helicoptered into the utility right of way for work, and incredibly, were close enough to hear her call for help.

I can only imagine what the mosquitoes and black flies were like. She was determined to survive, though she kept walking in circles. And she had water.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/nb-missing-woman-founf-after-13-days-1.5667614

https://nationalpost.com/news/new-brunsw...c-05bc2c9ee393/

Water and summertime promotes survival, plus stored food reserves.

Too rough for helicopter extraction, but they were able to carry her (less than a mile). Probably the helo did not have hoist capability?? (seems odd for a working chopper...)

Anyway, every thing worked out OK. That's what counts.....

I gather it wasn't a SAR helicopter, but rather a company chopper. Hoisting equipment is one thing; but I suppose hoisting a casualty safely is pretty specialized work.

The company crews did an outstanding job. I assume they train for this sort of situation because, in remote locations, the first responders are your team. Hauling someone on a backboard 1.25 km through woods and swampy terrain is a pretty nice feat IMO.

Glad she's safe. But when I hear a story like this, I always think how much easier her time would have been with the most basic of equipment and preparation.

Wow! Sounds like she got lucky! Glad she made it out okay.

So apparently she was not out hiking.

I guess survival is graded pass/fail, so she passes! But it took a lot of luck! She could have been rescued a lot sooner (or prevented the entire ordeal completely) by being better prepared. Good thing for her that NB is fairly temperate (at least this time of year). Even having a BIC or some matches would have helped. At least being able to have a fire at night would make you feel better and keep the boogey man at bay.

Why she was out there will no doubt remain a mystery. It does seem odd.

Interesting that she was 300 metres from a utility right of way. But if you've ever pushed through one of those dense black spruce bogs, you realize that you're almost blind past what's in front of your face. I actually hate them. It's far too easy to be turned around, and you can be suddenly find yourself face to face with a bear or cow moose and calf. No room for mutual introductions.

For all we know, she went into the woods for a bathroom break and lost her bearings. I've heard of this more than once.

All the helo hoists I have ever worked involved standard, mil=spec Hueys (you can tell I am a geezer!) and they worked just fine. But not all choppers have hoists of any description. I'll bet any hoist has to meet fairly tough safety standards.

Agreed, no problem with lift/hoist capacity. These guys are yoinking all sorts of equipment and materials to their work sites.

My thinking was about appropriate training/certification for lifting out a prone casualty (esp. a non-employee), appropriate equipment for the same, company policy for such situations, liability, etc. It's a different calculus than a SAR or military crew would face.

I’ve only been lifted by Navy helo’s, but those had dedicated aircrew in the back to operate the lifting gear. We used either dog collars (a strap at the end of the cable you wrap around and hook up), but that was decades back. The collar doesn’t weigh a lot, but it required some effort because the person being lifted can slip out — seriously not good. The last time I was lifted they used a cable and hook-latch (whatever the terminology) to snap onto my vest’s D-ring.

Regardless, there’s gear required other than the hoist (winch) for a casualty in her condition which would require the helo to carry additional weight. Fuel is necessary weight, SAR equipment and personnel weren’t necessary for their mission that day, so that would be extra that helo pilots would probably choose to not carry. A basket would have been nice, but that definitely needs a certified operator, weight and storage space.

This wasn’t a SAR mission, so the necessary gear probably wasn’t on the helo and lacking a dedicated operator is a show stopper for a lift. That said, I’m in the dark as to equipment and personnel on the helo used in this rescue, but finding a place to land the helo to pick up the lost hiker was an easy decision to make.

Just my opinion, wasn’t there.