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Meticulous Sea Land Air Coordination Saves Injured Seafarer off Ireland

Posted: 11 Dec 2008 12:45 PM CST

Anna Rickmers_seafarer_rescue

Meticulous sea, land and air coordination off the coast of Ireland has saved a severely injured seafarer at sea. On December 09, a Burmese seafarer suffered spinal, cranial injuries as he fell 12 metres into the hold of the 28,000-tonne ‘Anna Rickmers’ vessel. The accident happened in the evening, while the vessel was 600 miles off Cork, west of Ireland. The seafarer needed immediate hospitalization.

Meanwhile, a doctor from Queen Alexandra Hospital in Portsmouth was in contact with the ship’s crew to advise on how to stabilise the injured seafarer. The rescue mission was risky because of the long distance involved. Long distance air-refuelable helicopters were needed to reach the vessel at sea. Hence the Royal Air Force Kinloss, Moray, Scotland and UK-based U.S. Air Force units with highly-trained para rescuemen (or PJs) carried out joint rescue operation.

The rescue operation involved:

The seafarer was airlifted successfully in the darkness around 2030 hours on December 10. Two hours later, the helos landed in Shannon, Ireland and from there the injured seafarer was taken to Midwestern Regional Hospital in Limerick. Now the injured seafarer is in a serious but stable condition.

Here is a photograph of HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopter preparing for aerial refueling from an Air Force MC-130P Combat Shadow. (U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Justin D. Pyle)

030728-F-6701P-039

Details about the vessel ‘Anna Rickmers’ are at Rickmers Group.

Read more about rescue operations from U.S.Air Forces in Europe and The Herald.

Post in MarineBuzz on this day a year before:

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USS Boxer Tests Combat Sky Satellite Communication Balloon

Posted: 11 Dec 2008 05:46 AM CST

skysat_balloon

(U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Daniel Barker/Released)

What you see above is, testing of Combat Sky satellite communication balloon from the deck of the amphibious assault ship USS Boxer (LHD 4) by members of the Arizona Air National Guard.

Some of the interesting features of Combat Sky satellite communication balloon are:

  • larger than a weather balloon.
  • has the potential to provide communications between ship and helicopter, ship to shore, and between those on shore.
  • communications payload are: global positioning systems, radios, and a hanging antenna. There are separate radios, one to control the payload and another, a communications repeater, for personnel to communicate with each other.
  • helium filled balloon operating at an altitude of 60,000 – 85,000 feet above sea level.
  • on completion of mission, the payload descends through a parachute attached to the balloon and then the balloon goes up to 120,000 feet, freezes, and bursts into many tiny pieces.

Read more about Combat Sky satellite communication balloon from U.S.Navy.

Post in MarineBuzz on this day a year before:

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