  High Res Photo An EC-135 twin turbo powered helicopter- recently involved in a miraculous life-saving night rescue in the artic waters of Green Bay- sits on a pad at County Rescue Services, Green Bay. The helicopter provides emergency medical air transport services and law enforcement and search and rescue support to local and federal agencies including the Coast Guard. Photo by Senior Chief Tom Rau/Boat Smart. Click on the'High Res Photo" under the above photo to view flight crew and survivors of the rescue: From Left to right, George Miller pilot, Richard Olszewski, survivor, Mike Orlando, emergency medical technician, and Beth Casa, Survivor. On January 21, 2004 the flight crew of County Rescue Services, Green Bay, plucked the couple from the icy waters of Green Bay at night after their snowmobiles plunged into the bay. One of the survivors spent over two hours in the water exposed to a 50-degree minus wind chill and 40-knot winds. See story below. 'High Res Photo': Tiffany Wiebel, Eagle lll Daring rescue forewarns-stay off unstable ice February 15, 2004. What are the odds of surviving for two hours after plunging through ice on a snowmobile late at night into 30-degree water with 40-knot artic winds casting a 50-minus wind chill across an ice glazed Green Bay? It’s a long shot not even Vegas would touch, yet a couple did beat insurmountable odds, thanks, in part, to a paramedics’ local knowledge of Green Bay , the survivor’s fierce will to live, and the gutsy efforts of a Eagle III, helicopter crew at County Rescue Services, Green Bay. Now the story. Green Bay, Wednesday, January 21, 2004. The Brown County Joint Dispatch Center received a cell-phone call from a male at 9:49 p.m.. “My girlfriend…my snowmobile went under the water somewhere by those flashing lights. I’m OK. We have to get out of here.” The 911 call lasted two minutes and the location the caller provided was sketchy at best: a green light on the left and a red light on the right and a water tower somewhere in Green Bay? End call… Brown County 911 contacted Eagle III rescue dispatch and requested air assistance. At 10:10 p.m. George Miller, Eagle III’s Director of Operations and senior pilot and a crew chief launched an all-weather IFR rated twin turbo powered EC-135 helicopter. The Eagle lll crew made several sweeps over the lower waters of Green Bay. They determined that poor visibility called for additional equipment in particular an Ultra 7000 Forward Looking Infrared (FLIR) system capable of detecting temperature differences down to three tenths of a degree Celsius, which can then be converted into a visible picture displayed on an onboard screen on the flight EC-135’s console. In the end, however, it would not be the space-age FLIR system that saved the day, but a couple of inflatable life rings that crew chief Shaun Stammes snatched up just before they launched again at 10:45 p.m.. Back in the air Eagle lll headed for Grassey Island on the 911 read provided by Brain Hinckley a full-time paramedic on duty that night and a retired Coast Guard boatswain mate chief familiar with Green Bay. Miller made several sweeps over the waters near Grassey Island which is located two miles north of the City of Green Bay adjacent to the shipping canal. On the third sweep the helicopter’s 30 million-candle watt beam picked up a reflection on the south end of Grassy Island. “I dropped low and headed for the island, no larger than the size of a ranch house,” said Miller. The person in the water had crawled onto the island and was standing as the helicopter approached. “The wind force buffeted the aircraft as I held station while my crewman prepared to pull the victim aboard.” The rotary blades swirled snow about under the intense glow of the night sun. “I held the aircraft several inches off a boulder while using a nearby stone structure as a reference point to maintain station,” said Miller. The helicopter did not carry a cable and basket hoisting system. Emergency medical technician, Mike Orlando, crouched in the bay braced his 150-pound frame to haul aboard the human statue posed in a frozen body cast. The helicopter hovered inches off the ground ready to receive the frozen cargo. “The guy barely had use of his arms and he wrapped them around Mike’s neck as he pulled him aboard,” said Miller. “When Mike removed the victim’s helmet it was a woman.” How could that be? During the two-minute cell phone call to 911, the caller reported: “My girlfriend…my snowmobile went under the water….” To Miller and his crew that meant the caller was still out in the winter locked bay. They whisked her back to waiting paramedics who cut her free of the frozen body cast. Airborne again the aircrew raced back to Grassey Island. “We figured he had to be some where close. Near the island the night sun picked up snowmobile tracks which led them a mile or so north to Longtail light, a large white cylindrical tower bordering the Green Bay shipping channel. It’s now 11:49, two hours since the initial call to 911. The aircrew couldn’t believe the woman had covered over a mile and a half to reach Grassey Island until Shawn Stammes spotted a flickering red light in the water and realized this is where they broke ice. Miller dropped down several feet off the water and saw a man waiving a helmet over his head with a red light attached. “He was struggling to keep his head up.” The man was near the 35-foot high channel marker, so near in fact that Miller had to station keep off the man so the rotor blade wouldn’t strike the structure. Stammes gave the command to Mike Orlando, to heave a self-inflating life ring; the rotor wash blew it out of reach. “I maneuvered to the right hoping my rotor wash would push the inflatable towards the man. It didn’t.” Stammes directed Orlando to throw a second life ring with a line attached. “He hit the guy right in the chest. The guy grabbed the line with wet bare hands- how he held on to the three-quarter-inch line and life ring in a fifty-minus degree wind chill accelerated by the rotor blast is a miracle,” said Miller. The veteran pilot gingerly backed the helicopter away from the structure pulling the man back about ten feet through ice creating a narrow corridor in which he could support himself on the ice with his elbows. Miller then inched forward; the man hooked an arm over a skid. Miller slowly hovered backwards dragging the man under Orlando’s direction onto solid ice where he lay in a prone position, too weak to stand. Unable to land on the unstable ice, Miller stationed the helicopter within inches of the man. At one time, Orlando feared the landing skid might crush him under the 7,000 pound aircraft. The heat from the 30-million candle watt night sun melted ice, which the rotor wash whipped up encasing in ice the bottom of the aircraft eclipsed from the night sun. The entire bay lay blanketed in ice. Worse yet, condensation from body heat and outside air began fogging the cockpit windows. The rotor blade whirling within a few feet of the 35-foot tower notched up the tension. Orlando was dressed in a flight suit only, a 40-knot wind bearing a 50-minus wind chill brutalized his exposed flesh seeping the life from his hands while coating his legs arms face and upper body in ice. “Grab and pull his butt into the chopper,” said Miller concerned the spreading condensation would seal off his reference point to the tower. Mike rolled the man’s upper body up onto the cabin floor, his hands all but void of feeling. “It was extremely cold,” said Orlando. With the snowmobiler’s upper body in the helicopter his legs protruded outside the craft in a frozen cockeyed distortion. With a Herculean burst, he hauled the 300 pound water logged stiff crusted in ice aboard and dumped him into a jump seat. The man weighted twice Orlando’s weight and how he pulled the frozen bulk up over the skid and into the aircraft not even Orlando could explain when I spoke with him later. Within minutes the aircraft was back at its landing port. “Paramedics lifted the man from the helicopter frozen in a sitting position. “ His body core temperature was 80 degrees F,” said Miller. Miller contributes their survival to a fierce will to live, well insulated foul weather gear and layered underwear, a red strobe light, night illumination material, and a cell phone. I might add and thanks to some nifty flying my, George Miller, a veteran Marine helicopter pilot who served two tours in Vietnam one as a search and rescue pilot, with over 9,000 logged hours on rotary aircraft. “This was the toughest rescue I ever made and I couldn’t pulled it off without my crew chief, Shaun Stammes, and Mike Orlando,” said Miller Ice Rescue Survival Tips Drowning is one of the leading causes of snowmobile fatalities. During early January 2003, six males drowned in separate snowmobile accidents after plunging through unstable ice in Northern Michigan waters within a four day period. In February and March, warming weather patterns can produce unstable ice. Snowmobile operators should pay heed to weather forecast calling for temperatures in the 30s or 40s. In the event of a cold water emersion, the following ice-rescue survival tips could save your life ► Do not operate a snowmobile on ice over water at night. The couple that plunged into Green Bay were not only operating at night upon unstable ice they were from Illinois and unfamiliar with Green Bay. ► If several snowmobilers are operating on ice, they should not run in tandem but spread out fore and aft so if one breaks through the ice the other can assist. ► Carry a length of nylon line with a small weight on the end. This could be used to assist another person who fell through the ice. ► Should an operator break though the ice do not accelerate it could carry you further away from ice and out or reach of help. ► Carry two ice awls (picks) attached together with a line you can wear around your neck. Place the awls in an upper pocket so they don’t ride over your neck if you plunge into water. In the water, there’s less chance of loosing one or both awls if attached to a line. Should you end up in the water pick with the awls and kick with your feet to pull yourself onto solid ice. Mike Orlando said the woman told him she held onto a slab of ice and kicked to move forward. ► Carry a marine radio or cell phone (water tight plastic bag) and flares (at least 6), also a whistle and wear a life jacket or flotation suit. At night, carry a strobe light. A hand-held GPS in a water-tight bag could prove to be a life saver. Deploy these devices immediately before hands grow numb. ► Place reflective tape on your foul weather suit. The reason the flight crew spotted the gal was that the seams of her dark-colored foul weather exposure weather suit had 1/8 inch thread piping that reflected light. If not for those seams, it’s doubtful they would’ve spotted her. The male was spotted because his helmet carried a flashing red light. ► Wear full body protective wear (suit) with insulation and terminal underwear. Mike Orlando told be when he cut away the survivors exposure suit, the inter layer of thermal wear felt sweaty and warm to the touch, even though the man’s core body temperature was 80 degrees F. ► Beware- stable ice can turn unstable in hours. Take special note of warming trends in February and March. ► And lastly, lay off the alcohol while operating a snowmobile, over the last ten years, 61-percent of Michigan snowmobile fatalities involved alcohol or drugs. Group
Grand Haven | USCG
Office of Boating Safety
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