[Schroder]

If you needed to be airlifted from the mountains in the 70's and 80's there was a good chance that you'd see Fort Lewis or Whidbey Naval Air Station involved. In early 1971, the Army created a MAST unit (Military Assistance to Safety and Traffic) at Gray Field at Fort Lewis together with the Mountain Rescue units in Washington. A two-man volunteer Mountain Rescue team would be on duty every weekend in a "ready-room" on the base and was able to be off the ground in a couple of minutes. All the pilots had just survived tours in Viet Nam and were highly seasoned, giving some of the wildest rides I ever experienced. The rescuers saw every imaginable scene from mountain injuries to car accidents and even delivering babies. I had my camera with me on our first training day in 1971:

MAST 1971

MAST 1971

Whidbey Island NAS had several CH-47 Chinook helicopters and were used a lot in Snohomish County, North Cascades and the Olympics. Here's one shot of "Firewood 1" rescuing rafters on the Skykomish River. On one of my more memorable rescue missions in 1972, I was on board this helicopter when they tried to lower me by cable to an injured climber near the top of the North Peak of Mt Index. The terrain was to steep to allow the rotors to clear so I had to be dropped off on a lower ledge just as the sun was setting. It later crashed near Whatcom Pass in the early 1980's with only one survivor.

Firewood 1 - Whidbey NAS

Whidbey NAS still has a very active rescue unit utilizing Seahawk helicopters.

[Malachai Constant]

Was that the one that crashed at Perfect Pass? I remember the wreckage and it left us with a somber feeling. There was that crashed near Snoqualmie Pass in the early 70’s a friend was working for the State and was a first responder to the fire that started no survivors. RIP China Lake was the go to place in the Sierras because we had helicopters that could hover at high altitudes.

[Schroder]

Yes, it was Perfect Pass. Memory slipping there. It happened on 9/11/80 and there were 2 survivors out of 7 on board.

[runup]

[car68]

CH-46, Sea Knight. Chinook's little brother. In my youth I rode a MAST helicopter at Mt Rainier to help search for Julie Fillo. The helicopter bug bit hard. I joined the Army thinking they would let me fly those. They didn't, yes i was naive. They did issue me a set of mechanics tools and let me drill holes in them though. Still doing air rescues.

[BlackOpsRanch]

I'm writing a paper on SAR Missions and was wondering if you knew what year the military first used the Chinook for High Altitude rescue missions on Mount Rainier and other High Altitude mountains? From what I've located so far the information says the 80s or 90s but I haven't been able to locate any documented Chinook rescue missions. The first documented Chinook rescue mission I can actually find was in 2008 but I know that there had to be some performed before that. Do you know of any earlier Chinook rescue missions or can you please point me in the right direction to let me know where I might be able to locate the information I need? Also do you know if there's any records and where I might be able to locate them for how many times the Chinook has been utilized for civilian or military High Altitude Rescue Missions in the Pacific Northwest? I'm sorry for bothering you with these questions but I want my paper to be as accurate as possible with as much detail as possible and I know that there had to be earlier documented Chinook missions flown and it should be some type of public log that shows details as well as dates of each Mission flown. Thank you in advance for your time and any assistance you provide.

[Schroder]

[car68]

https://www.nps.gov/orgs/1180/national-park-service-announces-mike-gauthier-as-lake-mead-national-recreation-area-s-new-superintendent.htm This guy would know. Also you could do a FOIA request as all rescue activities in the NPS are documented.

[Schroder]

The current rescue helo at Whidbey NAS

[Snowshovel]

There was a flat bedded white and orange‘hawk north bound on 405 last week. Not sure who owns it, USN, USCG, or another agency or county. I would think if it was active duty USCG it would be flown north from Eureka. Could also be heading to a Coulson or Columbia base