After a quiet first six months of the year, the NAS Fallon "longhorn" search and rescue team jumped into action with seven rescues in the Sierra Nevada between July 19 and 31. Three of those rescues were in Mono County as described in this portion of an August 24, 2000 article in the Mammoth Times.
Saddlebag Lake (ops00-13R)
Recent Helicopter Training with NAS Fallon crew
On July 21, the Navy received a call from the Mono County Sheriff to help rescue a 27-year-old woman who had injured her ankle hiking. The sheriff, realizing it would take ground crews hours to hike in to her position at 11,200 feet on the side of a steep slope, called upon the Navy's helicopter assets to assist.
Launching mid-afternoon, the crew of Lt. Dave Cotts, Kulczak, Cox, Lawson and Bullman proceeded to Saddlebag Lake. Realizing the extremely high altitude would prevent them from carrying a full load of crewmen and equipment to the victim's location, Cotts flew to the command post and dropped off Bullman and Lawson along with extra equipment.
Once they had located the victim, the crew circled the area assessing the rather unfavorable landing zone. Facing a moderate cross wind, Cotts maneuvered the helicopter into a one-skid landing (for rotor clearance) at the top of the mountain peak in a bowl area. In one try, the crew picked up the victim and her companion. After dropping off the companion at the command post, the crew flew the victim to Mammoth Hospital for treatment.
Shadow Lake (ops00-15R)
By July 24, the Longhorn crew was again responding to a call for help from the Mono County Sheriff. This time, a 22-year-old woman, camping near Shadow Lake, had become ill and couldn't hike out. Her mother walked out and notified the sheriff who, in turn, called the navy.
After an hour's flight to get to the area, the navy team arrived at 11 a.m. and coordinated with the sheriff's department representative who was with the victim. Although she wanted to hike out because the idea of a flight in a helicopter frightened her, authorities convinced her the best bet was a lift courtesy of the U.S. Navy.
The crew of Lt. Cmdr. John Freeburg, Kulczak, AECS Jim Williamson, AMS2 Jason Claybaugh and Bullman landed in a bowl area next to the lake, loaded her into the helicopter and transported her to the Mammoth airport for ground transport to a medical facility.
Wolf Creek Lake (ops00-16R)
Just after 9 a.m. on July 26, the Mono County Sheriff's Department called NAS Fallon for assistance to get a 57-year-old man out of his camp. He was suffering from severe back spasms and couldn't walk himself out of the extremely rugged terrain. While ground crews are usually first to respond to this type of rescue, the sheriff's department knew the navy helicopter assets would be able to reach the stranded man much more quickly than people hiking in on foot.
The crew of Lt. Rob Schneider, Kulczak, AD2 Nick Wiscons, Claybaugh and Bullman responded, launching at 9:45 a.m. and arriving at the sheriff's command post at 10:30 a.m. There they learned they would have to fly to Wolf Creek Lake, on the Mono County-Alpine County line and begin their search from global positioning system coordinates provided by the civil authorities.
Flying through the rocky mountain terrain at an elevation of 9,500 feet, the crew spotted the victim's orange tent and blue backpack that he had placed in plain view. They landed the helicopter in a meadow near the lake. Bullman and Wiscons assisted the man across the quarter-mile distance to the helicopter by carrying him with one arm over each of their shoulders as he was completely unable to support his own weight.
The navy crew airlifted the victim to Washoe Medical Center in Reno for treatment.