The Red Helicopter
The red helicopter sits on its pad at the edge of the airfield, ready to fly at a moment’s notice. At dusk, when most people are going home, this is when the calls often come. Tonight, the team has been waiting for two hours, and the light is fading fast.
At 7:40, the alarm sounds. A walker has fallen on the north face of the mountain, and her friend has called for help. She is injured and cannot move, and the temperature on the mountain is dropping quickly.
The crew runs to the helicopter. First, the pilot checks the weather and the fuel. Then the paramedic loads the medical bags and the rescue rope. Within four minutes, the machine lifts off the ground and turns toward the dark hills.
The first problem is finding the walker. The mountain is huge, and the light is almost gone. At first, no signal can be received from the woman’s phone, because the battery is low. But after the friend is asked to wave a torch, a small light is finally located on the rocks below.
The pilot cannot land on the steep slope, so the paramedic must be lowered on the rope. This is the most dangerous part. The helicopter is held steady in the wind while the paramedic is slowly released down to the injured walker.
On the ground, the woman is examined quickly. Her leg is broken, but she is awake and warm enough. She is wrapped in a special blanket, lifted into a stretcher, and then raised carefully back up to the helicopter. The whole rescue takes less than thirty minutes, but for the woman on the rocks, it must have felt much longer.
Afterward, the pilot says little about the danger. “It’s the job,” he says. “The mountain doesn’t care what time it is.” The paramedic adds that most walkers who are rescued have simply been unlucky, not careless. “Anyone can fall,” she says. “The important thing is that they are found, and that they make it home.”
By 9 p.m., the helicopter is back on its pad. The crew drinks tea and waits. On a clear night, they might escape another call. But they all know the phone could ring again at any moment, and if it does, they will fly.