Va. Guard aviators train with civilian first responders on rescue techniques .
Virginia Army National Guard air crews from the Chesterfield-based Detachment 1, Company A, 2nd Battalion, 151st Aviation Regiment use their UH-72 Lakota helicopters to work with personnel from the Chesterfield Fire & EMS SCUBA Rescue Team to rehearse rescue and hoist operations with a helicopter rescue basket March 22, 2014, on the James and Appomattox Rivers in Hopewell, Va. The Soldiers worked through a scenario with the civilian first responders, searching the banks of the river from the skies for a notional missing person using the Mission Equipment Package equipped on several of their helicopters. The MEP includes a forward centerline-mounted camera system with advanced optics and a cabin touch-screen display, a video management system, a digital video recorder and data downlink system, that the crew put to use during the scenario. Once located, an additional hoist-equipped helicopter deployed to the aid of the victim, where Fire & EMS personnel notionally assessed and stabilized the victim before sending them up in the rescue basket. The rescue basket is a newly acquired for the aviators and can hoist personnel from land or water. (Photo by Staff Sgt. Terra C. Gatti, Virginia Guard Public Affairs)
Va. Guard aviators train with civilian first responders on rescue techniques .
Virginia Army National Guard air crews from the Chesterfield-based Detachment 1, Company A, 2nd Battalion, 151st Aviation Regiment use their UH-72 Lakota helicopters to work with personnel from the Chesterfield Fire & EMS SCUBA Rescue Team to rehearse rescue and hoist operations with a helicopter rescue basket March 22, 2014, on the James and Appomattox Rivers in Hopewell, Va. The Soldiers worked through a scenario with the civilian first responders, searching the banks of the river from the skies for a notional missing person using the Mission Equipment Package equipped on several of their helicopters. The MEP includes a forward centerline-mounted camera system with advanced optics and a cabin touch-screen display, a video management system, a digital video recorder and data downlink system, that the crew put to use during the scenario. Once located, an additional hoist-equipped helicopter deployed to the aid of the victim, where Fire & EMS personnel notionally assessed and stabilized the victim before sending them up in the rescue basket. The rescue basket is a newly acquired for the aviators and can hoist personnel from land or water. (Photo by Staff Sgt. Terra C. Gatti, Virginia Guard Public Affairs)