Hurricane Hunters, 446th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron team up for life-saving training

by Maj. Marnee A.C. Losurdo
403rd Wing Public Affairs

6/16/2014 - MCCHORD FIELD, Wash. -- The 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron's Hurricane Hunters based in Keesler Air Force Base, Mississippi, and the 446th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron here have vastly different missions; however, the one thing they do have in common is saving lives.

The two Air Force Reserve Command units paired up aboard a WC-130J for three in-flight medical training missions June 13-15.

The Hurricane Hunters flew simulated storm missions gathering data for the National Center for Environmental Prediction, a National Weather Service agency, while the Aeromedical Evacuation team trained on various medical scenarios they might encounter while transporting sick or wounded patients to a medical treatment facility.

"The jobs are unrelated, but we are all training, which is an efficient use of time and resources," said Lt. Col. John Wagner, 53rd WRS pilot and aircraft commander.

Airborne Medical Care
In the cargo area of the aircraft, the 446th AES team treats a patient with an eye injury when smoke fills the aircraft.

Maj. Laura Ely, a flight nurse, and her AE team grab their oxygen masks, or MA-1 Walk Around Oxygen Bottle, and hastily put them on testing their equipment to ensure it's operational. It was one of many scenarios the team encountered during the weekend training, teaching them how to respond to a variety of medical and emergency situations ranging from treating a patient with cardiac arrest to preparing for a crash landing.

Ely is part of a five-person aeromedical evacuation team consisting of a medical crew director, flight nurse, and three aeromedical evacuation technicians. The 446th AES is a 150-person squadron and 16 personnel took part in the weekend training.

"Training while in flight is an important part of the mission," she said, who added patient care is vastly different once in the air. "When you are at a hospital all the equipment is there, such as oxygen and electricity, when you fly you have to take all that with you."

"When you are up in the air; that's it; you don't have anything to fall back on; so we need to ask all the questions we can possibly think of now with a simulated patients that way your situational awareness is that much more heightened when you are in the air," said Master Sgt. Charlene Taylor, AE technician and trainer and evaluator for the event, who added that most medical events occur during take off and landing due to the changes in altitude and pressure on a patients injuries.

In addition to training for various emergency and medical situations, AE crews must be familiar with transporting patients on the C-17, C-130 and KC-135.

"McChord only has C-17s so this is a rare opportunity for us," said Staff Sgt. Kyle Knox, medical technician. "Different airframes require specific types of medical equipment and litter configurations."

For example, a C-17 is equipped with therapeutic oxygen, but crews have to bring it when flying on a C-130.

Ely, who joined the Air Force Reserve in 2008 and is a nurse at a rural hospital in Washington, deployed to Bagram in 2010 and attests to the importance of training on the different airframes.

"We flew a lot of patients on the C-130," she said, who added that the aircraft could transport up to 80 patients.

When transporting patients from a deployed location, AE personnel frequently work with Critical Care Air Transport teams. CCATTs consist of a doctor, intensive care nurse and respiratory therapist. This specialized medical team operates a portable intensive care unit.

"If we have a patient who is severely ill or a critical patient that needs one-on-one care we will have a CCATT crew," said Taylor. "Our job is to ensure their equipment integrates with the aircraft, and they have everything they need to ensure they can do their job."

Patients are flown from the area of responsibility back to Ramstein Air Base, Germany. Depending on their condition, they will be treated there until stable and then transported back to a stateside military medical facility. Research has shown that patients recover better if they are near their families and loved ones, said Taylor.

"Once someone is injured and enters the AE system there is a 98 percent survival rate, said Knox, who added that the U.S. Air Force Reserve and Guard conduct 85 percent of AE missions.

When dealing with life or death, training is vital, and that's why the 446th AES trains on different systems of the body monthly, said Knox, who added this month's training focused on maxofacial. They are also required to fly on an AE training mission a minimum of every 90 days.

"We train for the worst-case scenarios," he said. "We are constantly training for anything that can happen."

For newcomer Senior Airman Tyler Soule, a medical technician on the flight who reported to McChord after two years of training, said he considered it a pretty normal training flight.

"They throw a lot of far-fetched scenarios, events that may rarely happen, but if it does happen you have to know how to respond," he said.

"That's why training is important," said Taylor. "You are not going to have patients that come home with the same symptoms. It may be a cardiac patient, burn patient or a psych patient; they are all going to be varied."

Into the virtual storm
While medical personnel were busy in the cargo compartment, the 53rd WRS was conducting its own training--winter storm missions. The squadron is known for its hurricane hunting mission, providing surveillance of tropical storms and hurricanes in the Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico and eastern Pacific Ocean for the National Hurricane Center in Miami. However, the unit also flies winter storm missions.

The data they provide improves the accuracy of forecasts by as much as 30 percent, which can save property and lives, said Lt. Col. John Gallagher, ARWO.

NCEP can task winter storm missions in the Pacific, Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico.

"The National Weather Service builds the route with specific points where they want dropsondes released," said Wagner who was responsible for a nine-person crew. "During a winter storm missions, we can drop about 15 to 20 sondes, but today (Friday) we are dropping three for this training mission."

A five-person crew conducts the mission aboard a WC-130J, which is equipped with meteorological data-gathering instruments. The pilot and co-pilot man the flight controls while the navigator keeps track of the aircraft's position and movement and monitors radar to avoid severe weather activity. In the back of the aircraft, the flight meteorologist observes and records meteorological data at flight level using a computer that encodes weather data every 30 seconds; and, the weather reconnaissance loadmaster collects and records meteorological data using a parachute-borne sensor known as a dropsonde. These devices collect temperature, wind speed, wind direction, humidity, and surface pressure data. This information is transmitted to the NWS to assist them with their forecast models.

"This is a prime opportunity to increase and enhance the skills of the weather loadmasters," said Master Sgt. Jeff Stack, standardization and evaluations loadmaster. "When flying with aeromeds the loadmaster is able to launch dropsondes as well as assist in the loading and offloading of personnel. This accomplishes two critical areas in the overall aspect of the weather mission for crewmembers."

There was also some real-world application as part of this mission.

"We got new software used to gather meteorological data so this cross-country trip and AE trainer gave us the opportunity to identify any issues and resolve those before we get into the active part of the hurricane season," said Lt. Col. Ray Deatherage, ARWO.
Training or conducting real world operations, the Hurricane Hunters and 446th AES will be ready to save lives when their nation calls.