Lost Coast Search and Rescue
U.S. Coast Guard Air Station Humboldt Bay
By Sagar Pathak
With over 250 miles of rugged coastline, Coast Guard boats and aircraft to respond to any maritime emergency in the region; along thecoast, well offshore, or even inland. (Sagar Pathak)Jagged rocks, rough seas, and thick clouds are just some of the hazards in this part of the world. With more than 250 miles of rugged coastline from the Mendocino-Sonoma County line north to the California-Oregon border, the men and women of US Coast Guard Group/Air Station Humboldt Bay provide a vigilant 24×7, 365 watch over the residents and mariners of these waters.
Recently I had the privilege to spend a few days with the maintainers and air crews of the MH-65C Dolphin at the Arcata-Eureka Airport in McKinleyville, Calif. With three MH-65C Dolphins based at the Air Station, a standard crew of two pilots and a flight mechanic on each, and several Coast Guard rescue ships in the area, the group is able to provide immediate search and rescue (SAR) assistance and respond to any maritime emergency in the region; along the coast, well offshore, or even inland.
When the helicopter crew is augmented with a rescue swimmer, the Coast Guard is able to provide a unique air asset that is able to provide immediate rescue and medical attention to victims that find themselves in dangerous situations.
Bush Pilots: Where did they come from? And, where are they now?
By Alan Smith
A Curtiss JN-3 in military colors. These were among the earliest bush aircraft. (Courtesy of the San Diego Air & Space Museum Archive) When mot people think of “Bush Pilots” most of them think of Alaska and northern Canada. In fact there are bush pilots around the world, carrying things like food, fuel, medical supplies and (courageous) passengers. The term basically means a pilot that may depart from an airport but has no airport, runway, or landing strip at his destination. They fly airplanes equipped with larger tires suitable for landing on rough ground, floats for landing on lakes or rivers and sometimes with amphibious floats that make landing on the ground or on the water possible.
Where did this aviation specialty come from? It is generally thought that this kind of flying began shortly after the end of World War I in South Africa. The African “Bush” simply described any wilderness outside the then growing cities of the region. Some highly valued mining had begun in parts of the African countryside (Diamonds and precious metals) and those operators were in constant need of supplies. Strings of burros proved to be far too slow, and the recently developed airplane was much faster and therefore more attractive (though more expensive) than the plod of hooves through the bush country to various growing industrial projects. Some of the earliest bush planes were Curtiss JN-3 and JN-4 “Jennys.” More than 5,000 of these were built after 1917 for various nations. Most were for the United States military, but many went to nations of the world and to the early bush pilots of South Africa.
Falling in Love with a Cassutt, Part II
By Steve Weaver
Steve Weaver in the early ’70s with his Cassutt. (Photo provided by Steve Weaver)To anyone who has been stranded, immobile and silent on the side of a busy interstate, the whoosh of passing cars and the blasts of air from speeding tractor trailers rocking your vehicle is familiar. You sit in your crippled automobile on the verge and you change not a whit the traffic that ignores you and continues on its way. I can tell you though, when the stalled vehicle is an airplane, things change completely. Apparently, jaded though the public is, the sight of an airplane beside a busy road is enough to stop traffic. Within minutes multiple cars and trucks had stopped and I had dispatched one volunteer to phone the airport and tell my friend Jake to come to my aid.
In twenty minutes or so Jake arrived, a wide smile plastered on his face. Thankfully, with the cell phone still an invention of the far future, the police had not also appeared, and we began to noodle the problem of getting the airplane back into the air.
