But, we did get the chance to tour the North Slope Borough Search and Rescue Hanger yesterday. We were guided by a friend of Steve Culbertson's named Dustin who works there as a medic.
It was way cool! The North Slope Borough (equivalent to a Minnesota County, except it's twice the size of the state of Minnesota....) Has it's own Search and Rescue Department, complete with a Learjet and 2 Helicopters!
The Borough pays for search and rescue and has many full-time employees. Some of the fire department employees also fly on the med-evac flights and search and rescue operations. We got the full tour of the hangar and got to sit in the jet and the helicopters (I'm really still a little kid at heart)
We also learned a little bit about the rescue and med-evac missions. Some fun facts:
- unless it's colder than -40, they go out on rescue missions
- Barrow is the only Fire Department in the State that goes on flight missions
- The Learjet is called the "Rescue Bird" it is a special model with a longer wingspan so it can fly at slower speeds to land on shorter airstrips
- You can get in the Jet, fly out of Barrow, and land in Anchorage in 90 minutes (that's 800 miles)
- Every med-evac flight to Anchorage goes past Denali, on the way back if they ask Air Traffic Control really nice they get to circle it and enjoy the view after a stressful day
- They operate the only learjet in the world that lands on gravel airstrips ("there used to be one in Africa, but it crashed" Says Dustin nonchalantly......) Crews walk shoulder to shoulder on aircraft carriers to make sure not even one little pebble gets sucked into fighter jet engines,t hese guys land a learjet on a bumpy piece of gravel.
- Helicopters cost 14 million dollars, the new jet they're getting is only 11 million
- Crews are on call 24 hours for 2 weeks at a time, then they have 2 weeks off. Dustin is taking his next 2 weeks and going hunting in Texas, working 2 weeks, going to California for 2 weeks, working 2 weeks, then going to Las Vegas for 2 weeks. You get the idea, he's living the dream!
We heard a few fun stories from the crew and took some more pictures.
Less than a week to go! We're getting anxious to get home and see our friends and family again, but are still enjoying all the great experiences we're having in Barrow!
Stay warm, and check out the pictures!
-Peter
I took a picture of the checklist, just for you Jane Schuck!
Helicopter Cockpit
The front end of the "Rescue Bird"
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