The storms that swept the Pacific Northwest the first week of December, caused at least seven deaths and left 11 counties in Oregon and Washington official federal disaster areas. They also brought out the best of our very own local U.S. Coast Guard.

Hurricane-force winds of up to 129 mph knocked the Oregon Coast Guard’s "high towers" offline leaving them unable to reach their airborne communications platform. Air Station Sacramento was dispatched to the scene to serve as a communication platform for distress calls. This was to be the first of four missions that our local men and women would fly during the storms that were part of a system called the "Pineapple Express" (their points of origin being the warm Pacific Ocean).

According to Lieutenant Junior Grade Randall Black of the U.S. Coast Guard, Air Station Sacramento, U.S.C.G. personnel were ready to go when the call came in for an overhead cover mission over the fast-flooding towns on the Oregon coast. They stayed on scene until they were low on gas and were relieved by a second group that ran a 10 hour mission. Next, Air Station Sacramento was called upon to fly down to San Diego and pick up a Fast Response Team with five small boats, engines and five personnel. They flew this Fast Response Team to Boeing Field just north of the Seattle/Tacoma airport and downtown Seattle, dropped them off and then flew back home.

The next call that came into our local Air Station was a request to fly to Hoquiam, WA and pick up some cardiac patients from a hospital that had lost all power, and take them to Portland. This mission ended up being canceled as other arrangements were able to be made locally. The fourth and final mission that was flown out of our backyard was to pick up the Fast Response Team and their equipment and fly them back to San Diego. Air Station Sacramento contributed 38 hours and 30 personnel to the relief aid of the flooded Pacific Northwest.

Air Station Sacramento was called upon because they are one of the only U.S.C.G. bases that has the long-range search and rescue and surveillance aircraft known as the C-130. There are only four other bases that have the C-130s: Kodiak, AK; Barber’s Point, HI; Elizabeth City, NC; and Clearwater, FL. The C-130 allows them to carry things such as a helicopter, multiple vehicles or even 100 airline seats for passengers and many other things to aid in their search and rescue missions.

These C-130s are equipped with CASPERS which are high-powered camera systems that can read a car license plate from 20 miles away! (This gives a whole new meaning to "speed patrolled by aircraft!") The C-130s have a 4,500 mile range, allowing them to fly non-stop to Central America. Air Station Sacramento has four of the C-130s on the base.

As for the flight missions to help our neighbors to the north, we say, "Job well done, Air Station Sacramento! We’re proud to have you in our corner."

Thanks to Lieutenant Junior Grade Randall Black for the tour of the C-130. Stay tuned, readers, for more information on Air Station Sacramento coming in March 2008.