It’s not every day that a rescue helicopter carries an airplane from one place to another, but that’s what happened on May 26th, 2021 when a small aircraft happened to crash directly into the top of a forest of tall trees in the Kettle Moraine State Forest in Wisconsin.
Granted, the airplane in question was a light aircraft model, weighing in at less than 4000 pounds, but we’re still talking about a whole plane, lodged in high trees, damaged, and loaded with fuel. The salvage/rescue effort was definitely outside the typical scope of what most pilots are called in to handle.
Not only did the rescue helicopter pull off this unlikely and daring job of literally hauling the plane up from the trees, its pilot, Don Pruett of Illinois-based Kash Helicopter Services, has been doing this same kind of work for decades.
According to Pruett, his previous heavy-lift helicopter services work has included chopper-based retrieval of small planes in other, more rugged states like Alaska, and he has been on the job for nearly 20 years. Pruett nonetheless recognized the Kettle Moraine assignment as one of his more difficult jobs: “It’s right up there at the top”, according to the experienced pilot.
The events leading up to this unlikely salvage and rescue scenario started when the small aircraft lost all power on May 15th and deployed its parachute. The little plane’s pilot, Brian Onstad, then crash-landed right into the trees but managed to survive unharmed along with his two passengers. Shortly thereafter, half a dozen emergency response units were called to the isolated location and after a five-hour effort, it was an arborist who was able to pull the trapped crash victims from their increasingly dangerous high spot.
Authorities had already closed off a section of the state forest surrounding the site due to the very real dangers of a fuel spill, fire, or the plane simply tumbling to the ground all of a sudden. Once the passengers were out, it was Pruett’s turn to do his own dramatic work.
Under the fortunately ideal wind and weather conditions, the heavy-lift helicopter pilot first landed at a campground one mile from the crash site, where his company’s other crew members prepped the chopper for its retrieval work. He then flew to the site of the plane and with the help of arborists and ground support, was able to get the line hanging from his machine secured to the body of the damaged aircraft.
This was the part of the work where the focus has to be absolute. As Pruett himself explained, “My head’s on the side in a bubble, we call it the bubble” He further elaborates that “…the only people in the world that exist are me and the guy on the ground. My goal is to make sure the aircraft is behaving properly”.
The pilot further mentioned that the wreckage of the plane has been wedged between the trees even more firmly than expected, but that careful maneuvering still managed to get it loose and back in the air. From here, it was just a matter of flying the unusual cargo one mile to the campsite and gently placing it on the ground as if it was no big deal.
Heavy lift helicopter services like those handled in the risky Wisconsin crash retrieval situation above are far from uncommon work for the professionals that fly for charter helicopter companies like Fair Lifts. Among their many transport duties are air rescue and emergency response assignments for local, state, and other government authorities throughout the country under sometimes extremely hazardous conditions.
Photo Credit: Whitewater Fire Department