The helicopter response to Hurricane Katrina

The helicopters came,and they came in great numbers, approximately 346 of them, and they directly rescued 34,751 people.The crews conducted their missions with succinct professionalism, often devoid of emotion by necessity. But this objectivity rarely sustained during Katrina.Lt lain McConnell, an HH-60 pilot from Air Station Clearwater, noted that it was possible to rescue dozens of people without feeling any deep personal connection because of time constraints and the intense concentration required - until flying in the right seat on his second Katrina rescue flight picking up survivors. He recounted how they had landed in the New Orleans International Airport right at sunset and that one mother, as she walked away from the helicopter, turned back to wave at him. He waved back, casually. Then she mouthed the words Thank You and formed her hands as if in prayer, and he felt the emotional impact of his job - he had just saved the lives of these two people, a grateful woman and her tiny child. After that, separating the technical aspect of his job from the human dimension became impossible, and he realized that he and his crew did more than fly technically precise missions; they were saving people. These hundreds of helicopters and their various and sundry crews took to the skies dark with other aircraft to fly into what must have appeared like hell on earth from the air, with thousands standing atop drowning buildings flashing tiny lights in prayer that the rescuers would come and save their lives, and their children's and neighbors'. And that they did. Igor Sikorsky once remarked that the pilots of rescue helicopters have contributed one of the most glorious pages in the history of human flight. Truer words were never said.