Helicopter Short Haul Team
Content by Bego Gerhart (1T836) --- HTML by Matt Moore and Frank
Photographs by Frank and Bego
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| Grand County Emergency Services Helicopter Short Haul Team
Content by Bego Gerhart (1T836) --- HTML by Matt Moore and Frank Photographs by Frank and Bego
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| The Grand County Helicopter Rescue Program, and
specifically the Short Haul Program, was invented in the Spring of 1996 by Grand County
Sheriff James Nyland and helicopter pilot John Ruhl. The Short Haul Program is broad enough in scope to include many non-rescue missions. We can use the Short Haul in film work, power pole insulator cleaning, seismic trouble-shooting, wildland fires, law enforcement and other operations that would apply to a trained short haul person being required to complete the mission. The majority of Short Haul missions certainly belong in the relm of insertion and extraction of rescue and medical personnel to and from an accident site where conventional approaches are deemed less appropriate.  Our first
Short Haul training was accomplished in July, 1996. The original team enrollment
included Pilot John Ruhl, spotter Chuck Hassen, Bego Gerhart from Grand County Search and
Rescue, Curt Brewer and Kent Green from Grand County Sheriff's Office and Corky Brewer,
the Fire Chief from Moab Valley Fire Protection District. Since then, we have added
Steve White from the Sheriff's Office and Frank Mendonca, a former Commander of Grand
County Search and Rescue.Our program was developed from the idea that applicants have previous "hang time" in harnesses via the mountaineering / rappelling environment. It is not a program for beginners. Our team is also split between "riggers" and "medics." We can respond to an injured person where ever the subject is. We train every 4 months in a different segment of our landscape from the Colorado River at 4,000 feet elevation to the snowy La Sal Mountains at over 10,000 feet. Short Haul rescue has been around since helicopters were strong enough to pick up more than one person. This happened in the late 1930's. Both civilian and military helicopters have saved thousands of lives worldwide through the years. Short Haul has been accomplished from the summit of Denali (20,320') in Alaska, right at the practical altitude limit of helicoptering. |
 The program is a cooperative effort between the Grand County Sheriff's Office, Search and Rescue, Moab Fire Department, and Classic Helicopters. Team members are, left to right, former GCSAR Commander Frank Mendonca, Deputy Curt Brewer, Deputy Steve White, Program Coordinator Bego Gerhart, Deputy Kent Green, Moab Fire Chief Corky Brewer, and Pilot John Ruhl. Missing from the photo is spotter Chuck Hassen. |
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