The technicality which was involved in rescuing the two men showed that it could not be done by any ordinary team. The pilots and crew members fully utilized their winching capabilities and displayed the highest level of airmanship. Their co-ordinated effort shows the level of planning that went into this rescue operation.  
Head of the JDF Air Wing and Pilot-in-Command for the rescue mission, Lieutenant Colonel Geoffrey Roper, said that it took a number of supporting players such as the Jamaica Constabulary Force, the Caribbean Aviation Centre, civilian entities and volunteers, but it was the four-member crew in the aircraft and the four-member search team that went on the ground that really did it. He added that it cost over $2 million Jamaican dollars to conduct the operation, bringing into account fuel and the total hours flown.

 “This mission was two-fold; there was the search portion where a number of eye witnesses were spoken to at Clifton Hill and Claverty Cottage in nearby areas who indicated seeing an aircraft south of the village. As we followed their lead we began to narrow our area of operation. Each time you launch a search you have to make the areas smaller and smaller. Then there was the rescue portion which called for a different kind of planning.  We had to retool and go back to the drawing board. When we assessed the terrain, we had to factor its characteristics into our aircraft planning.  We were also faced with the decision of who would make up our crew, as this was a highly specialized mission.  It was a well co-ordinated effort”.  
This search and rescue mission posed a different challenge from other missions that have been undertaken by the JDF Air Wing.  This mission was in very challenging terrain. Usually the rescue portion of a search and rescue mission would last for thirty minutes on average but this zone took over three hours which spoke to its intensity. Spotting the crash survivors was one challenge but extracting them created an even bigger one.

Colonel Roper explained the intricacies of the rescuing process which created an adrenaline rush for him.  “On the Bell 412 aircraft we have what we call a winch (250 feet of cable) which is specially designed for this type of mission. Fortunately for us, the downed aircraft created a hole in the canopy which allowed us the opportunity to winch the four rescue persons down to the crash site.” The winch equipment is a cable coil around a steel drum which can be extended vertically. It has a hook at the end to lower persons on the ground or hoist persons to the aircraft.

Once the air crew spotted the wreckage, they developed hope but their work had just started. Colonel Roper had wanted to lower the rescue team, a group of specially trained soldiers, on the crash site the Saturday evening (09 August); however, visibility was very poor such that he had to call off the search placing the team on standby. The rescue team was lowered in the area at first light Sunday morning. While combing the area, they found the men in very critical conditions. 
The survivors were found at approximately 1,500 feet below the crash site, dangerously positioned on a steep edge, it took about three hours on Sunday morning to rescue them.  Hinged on the edge of the Blue Mountain and operating at a much higher altitude than normal, the aircraft, after several attempts to hoist the survivors, had used up a lot of power and so had to return to Up Park Camp for refuelling.

“We were hovering as close as we could to the mountain side. Our blades were very close, within two or three feet. The challenge was that the survivors were hidden between shrubs and overhangs,” said Colonel Roper, Pilot in Command at the crash site.

Sergeant Lenox Hetridge was the winch operator. He has been on several search and rescue missions but this one he found very unusual.  “At other search and rescue sites we would be at about twenty feet above land or sea,” he said, “here we were at an altitude of 5,800 feet.”

The search and rescue team was at death’s mercy, one wrong move could cost them their lives. “I felt at risk but I had to remain calm. We had to winch out the men at a higher altitude and so there was less performance from our aircraft,” he continued. As the winch operator, Sergeant Hetridge had the trying task of keeping the cable clear of trees while at the same time pulling up the survivors who had suffered serious injuries. Corporal Kerron Speid, a medic, was one of the four men who did the ground search; there on the slippery mountain slope he stabilized their injuries. 

“I assessed both survivors and treated them as necessary. Both men were fed with food and water. The pilot was displaying signs of shock and therefore had to be fed with intravenous (IV) fluid. The fractures on the ankle of the passenger were also splinted. ” All this treatment had to be administered before the men could be airlifted.

It was a great self-relief and accomplishment when pilot Gavin Colley and passenger Christopher Watson were winched up in the JDF aircraft and evacuated to the University Hospital of the West Indies (UHWI) where the medical staff was on standby to receive them.

Search and rescue is only one of the myriad of roles that the Air Wing undertakes routinely.   This mission recorded the 4th medical evacuations (which are most times involved in search and rescue) that the JDF Air Wing had completed so far and approximately 80 since the start of 2008.
In keeping with its motto “We fly for all” JDF Air Wing has been fulfilling other crucial roles.  The Air Wing provides assistance to the Ministry of Health in conducting casualty and medical evacuations for all Jamaicans, regardless of social class, from rural hospitals to those in the Kingston Metropolitan Region for specialized treatment. The Air Wing conducts an average of 130 such mercy missions every year. This is the most frequent operational mission flown by the Air Wing.
In the meantime, it has the primary role of providing air support for the infantry in virtually any location in the region. The Air Wing also provides operational support to the Jamaica Constabulary Force. Many hours have been spent performing electronic surveillance over certain volatile areas seeking out prison escapees and tracking suspicious activities. 

Among the other tasks on which the Unit’s aircraft are employed are Long Range Maritime Patrols (LRMPs) in which the JDF Coast Guard is assisted in conducting offshore surveillance and coastal patrols. Through LRMPs, the aircraft locate and report on foreign vessels fishing illegally and conducting illicit trade in Jamaican waters. They also have the capability of tracking and intercepting narcotics offenders on Jamaica’s shorelines.  Many fishermen and cruise ship passengers have benefitted from the capabilities of the Air Wing in rescuing them at sea and also evacuating those with medical conditions. Whether it is providing VIP transportation, rescuing fishermen whose boats have capsized, conducting medical evacuations on land and sea or conducting flood reliefs in volatile areas, the JDF Air Wing has impacted several lives.

When the Jamaica defence Force was formed on July 31, 1962, it did not include air support, until almost a year after when it was deemed necessary to the holistic defence of the now sovereign Jamaica. The concept of air support was only met with one aircraft. Four were to be added within six days.

Whilst the JDF Air Wing was not an autonomous unit until 1977, search and rescue started from as early as 1967 when the first Jamaican helicopter pilot in the JDF, Major General (Ret’d) Robert J Neish did a daring rescue, of an injured British soldier, from the Blue Mountain Peak during a training exercise (Calypso Hop). This rescue was significant given the shortcomings which existed at the time with the limited aircraft, personnel and other vital resources.

However, today the JDF Air wing has witness a transformation in its fleet and capabilities. Between 1998 and 1999 seven new helicopters were added which herald the change from the airline type, semi-glass cockpit of the Bell 412-EP, to the sophistication of the forward looking infrared (FLIR) system on the Eurocopter Ecureuil AS355N helicopters. In less than ten years, the Air Wing took another step in the right direction with the acquisition of even more suitable aircraft, the Bell 407, single-engine helicopters. The Bell 407 is said to be able to perform key roles of the JDF Air Wing, such as aerial surveillance, casualty and medical evacuations, at more reliable and cost effective ways.    

As the JDF Air Wing increases and improves its fleet, it strives to be self sufficient with the training of its own pilots at the newly established Jamaica Military Aviation School (JMAS). All this will contribute to its readiness to respond to the needs of this nation.