At 2244 hours the Team was called to assist the crew of Longhorn 02, a Navy MH-60 Knighthawk helicopter from Naval Air Station Fallon. The crew reported a “hard landing” near Mt. Hogue, in the White Mountain Range at approximately 1700 hours on July 16, while conducting search and rescue (SAR) operations for an overdue hiker/peak bagger in Esmeralda County.

The aircrew consisted of four personnel - a pilot, co-pilot, and two crewmen. The landing site was at 11,700 feet, in very rugged terrain in Mono County. The crew were able to communicate following the impact, but a follow-on helicopter mission launched Friday evening from NAS Fallon was unable to retrieve them. At some point the incident was upgraded from a “hard landing” to a crash. An overnight kit was dropped to the survivors, who spent the night on the mountain.

A field team of four Mono SAR team members were called to standby Friday evening at 2244. On Saturday morning. an additional MH-60, Longhorn 01 , launched from Naval Air Station Fallon, and provided on-scene coordination, but could not effect a rescue. A CH-47 Chinook from Mather Air Force Base was called in for its superior high-altitude performance characteristics.

At approximately 1115, the CH-47 dropped off four Mono SAR team members on the summit of Mt. Hogue, who hiked down a 500 foot scree field to the crash site where two of the survivors were waiting. The other two survivors were 250 feet further down the mountain.

One subject was suffering from for Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS). The helicopter crew were given food and water and hiked back to the landing zone at the top of Mt. Hogue, at 12,400’. The CH-47 flew to the Mammoth-Yosemite airport for fuel and returned to the scene.

At approximately 1400 hours, the crew of Longhorn 02 were safely recovered aboard the CH-47. The original incident of the overdue hiker was resolved earlier when he encountered other hikers. The call was terminated at 1453 hours.

IC: Pelichowski Ops Leader: Beck/Bush Responders: Endo, Case, and Quiring. The Team volunteered 20 man hours for this call.

Epilogue

A CH-53K prototype from Marine Operational Test and Evaluation Squadron VMX-1 recovered a US Navy MH-60S Seahawk that suffered a hard landing last July on Mount Hogue in the White Mountains of California.

Departing the impact zone. Image by Cpl Therese Edwards.

CH 53K completing its design mission, lifting the 15,200 pound MH60 at almost 12,000’. Image by Cpl Therese Edwards.

Delivering the MH60 to the Bishop airport. Image by Cpl Colton Brownlee.