Posts Tagged ‘Air Station Traverse City’
Coast Guard, Michigan DNR rescue two hunters
MANISTIQUE, Mich. - The U.S. Coast Guard and the Mich. Department of Natural Resources rescued two lost hunters, Wednesday, in the Seney National Refuge.
Boaters safety emphasized at Coast Guard conference
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. - The Coast Guard will host a boating convention and safety conference, Tuesday, at the Traverse City Holiday Inn on Front Street and will be deploying a mass casualty raft in West Bay at 11:15 a.m. as part of a demonstration.
Air Station Traverse City prepares for annual standardization visit
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. - The aircrews of U.S. Coast Guard Air Station Traverse City will conduct their Annual Standardization and Certification Visit from Sept. 22 to Oct. 3, 2008.
To be ever ready to conduct search and rescue operations during dangerous weather conditions and to be able to perform other critical missions in service of the public, our aircrews must constantly train to maintain their expert flying skills. Annually, instructors from the Coast Guard Helicopter Training Branch in Mobile, Ala. arrive to check our aircrews’ procedural knowledge and test them with in-flight emergencies. This training requires Coast Guard aircraft to fly in the Cherry Capital Airport aircraft traffic pattern for a considerable amount of time.
The aircrews must be able to deal with the simulated emergencies in the air and land the aircraft in a safe and controlled environment.
Cherry Capital Airport is the only airport in the area with the facilities and Crash/Rescue personnel required for Coast Guard aircrews to perform these maneuvers. We understand that this training period may be an inconvenience for local residents who are not accustomed to the increased activity of Coast Guard aircraft around the Cherry Capital Airport, but it is absolutely necessary for our crews to maintain their aviation skills in order to effectively perform their critical missions.
This year’s Standardization Pilots from the Coast Guard Training Branch are Lt. Stephen Priebe and Lt. Scott Sanborn. The Rescue Swimmer is Senior Chief Petty Officer Clay Hill, and the Flight Mechanics are Petty Officer Richard Lyman and Petty Officer Paul Smith.
Ceremony to Remember Fallen Air Station Traverse City Crewman
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. - Coast Guard Air Station Traverse City will be holding a memorial ceremony for one of its members at 1 p.m. on Friday at the Open Space in downtown Traverse City.
The ceremony will be in memory of Airman Charles J. Krause, who drowned while swimming in West Grand Traverse Bay on August 30, 2007.
At 1:30 p.m. one of Traverse City’s rescue helicopters will fly over West Grand Traverse Bay and deploy a remembrance wreath in his honor.
Krause was assigned to Air Station Traverse City in May 2007, and was undergoing training to become an Aviation Maintenance Technician. He entered the Coast Guard in August 2005, and he was previously stationed aboard the Coast Guard Cutter Katmai Bay in Sault Ste. Marie, Mich.
His awards and decorations include the Coast Guard Rifle Marksman Ribbon, the Coast Guard Pistol Marksman Ribbon, the National Defense Service Medal, and the Coast Guard Sea Service Ribbon.
Krause is survived by his parents, George and Mary Sue Krause, of Neenah, Wis.
Coast Guard rescues four people on Long Tail Point
LONG TAIL POINT, Wis. — The Coast Guard rescued four people who waded to shore after their boat was taking on water and grounded near here at approximately 5:10 p.m. on Monday.
A jet ski operator noticed the small boat taking on water and rode to Coast Gaurd Station Green Bay to report the incident.
A Coast Guard Station Green Bay 25-foot response boat, a Coast Guard Air Station Traverse City HH-65C Dolphin helicopter and a Brown County Sheriff’s boat were launched after receiving the report.
Because of the shallow water, Station Green Bay and the Sheriff’s crew were not able to get close enough to the boat.
The Coast Guard helicopter crew hoisted the four individuals to safety and transported them to Green Bay Airport to awaiting Emergency Medical Services.
The Coast Guard recommends boaters carry a means of communication, whether it is a marine band radio or personal cell phone.
Coast Guard rescues three after vessel capsizes
WASHINGTON ISLAND, Wisc. — The U.S. Coast Guard rescued three people Monday after their vessel capsized off of Ephraim Harbor, Wisc.
The three people were not wearing a personal floatation device. The fourth person on the vessel, a child, was wearing a PFD.
Coast Guard Sector Lake Michigan, located in Milwaukee, received a report at approximately 3:45 p.m., that a vessel with four people on board capsized off of Ephraim Harbor.
Coast Guard Station Washington Island launched a 30-foot response and recovered two adults and one teenager from the water. The fourth person safely swam to shore. A Coast Guard HH-65 Dolphin helicopter from Air Station Traverse City, Mich., was requested, but was not needed because the people were safely recovered.
The Coast Guard would like all boaters to not only have a life jacket for every passenger on board, but to wear a life jacket at all times when boating. Wearing a life jacket can only increase your chances of survivability when you fall overboard or are in distress. For additional boating safety tips, go to http://www.uscgboating.org/.
Coast Guard rescues person in water near Fox River
GREEN BAY, Wisc. — The U.S. Coast Guard rescued a 57-year-old male from Lake Michigan near the entrance of the Fox River here Monday at approximately 2 a.m.
The man was recovered by a Coast Guard helicopter and taken to Green Bay Airport where an Emergency Medical Services ambulance transported him to the hospital.
The Coast Guard received a report of an unmanned and adrift 23-foot sailing vessel at approximately 3 p.m., Sunday. A Coast Guard Air Station Traverse City HH-65C Dolphin helicopter, a Coast Guard Station Green Bay 23-foot response boat and a Coast Guard Station Sturgeon Bay 41-foot motor life boat were launched to find the missing boater.
The helicopter crew located the man in the water with the use of night-vision goggles.
“Aviation Survival Technician 3rd Class Chris Bemis (a rescue swimmer) spotted him waving his arms halfway through the second sortie, then Aviation Maintenance Technician 3rd Class James Demerest (a flight mechanic) and he worked together to hoist him out of the water,” said Cmdr. Keith Overstreet, the Air Station’s executive officer. “He was cold and the rescue swimmer attended to him.”
Air Station Traverse City records busiest week of rescue season
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. - U.S. Coast Guard Air Station Traverse City has recorded its busiest week of this summer’s search and rescue season.
In a five-day period the Coast Guardsmen have logged more than 50 flight hours on 12 search and rescue cases resulting in four lives saved.
On Friday a single helicopter crew rescued three people in two separate cases: rescuing two overdue fishermen who were clinging to their capsized vessel near Alpena, Mich., and finding a missing kayaker in Torch Lake, Mich. On Wednesday helicopter crews airlifted and medically evacuated a 42-year-old male from the Burns Harbor, a 1,000-foot laker. The vessel was 60 miles east of Marquette, Mich., in Lake Superior.
During this period, the air station nearly doubled their weekly average flight time.
“In a typical five-day period, we would fly approximately 30 hours of training missions and routine patrols,” said Capt. Stuart Merrill, commanding officer of Air Station Traverse City. “This week we almost doubled that time and it was solely dedicated to the search and rescue mission.”
This five-day period took the helicopter crews from Marquette, Mich., to Sheboygan, Wisc., and as far south as Chicago and several other locations in between. But this is normal operations for the air station, whose area of responsibility encompasses five states, three of the Great Lakes, and sometimes Canada.
“I am tremendously proud of the dedicated efforts of our aviation crews,” said Merrill. “During the past week, they have committed unbelievable time and energy protecting the safety of the mariners and beachgoers throughout the Great Lakes region.”
“Our ethos of ‘Safe Search and Rescue Response Readiness’ is embodied in their actions each and every day and particularly during this demanding past week,” he added.
Air Station Traverse City operates five HH-65C Dolphin helicopters and assists with search and rescue services throughout the Great Lakes Region encompassing more than 94,000 square miles of water and 10,900 miles of shoreline.