Two weeks ago, I returned from leading a 4-man Air Force training team to Colombia to teach high angle rescue techniques to Colombian Air Force helicopter crews and para-rescue personnel. This is Part 8 of the chronicles of my adventurous trip to Colombia…
Day 9 continued … FRIES and SPIES
After we finished practicing snatch-and-grabs this morning, we grabbed some lunch and proceeded to conduct training in FRIES (Fast Rope Insertion Extraction Systems) and SPIES (Special Purpose Insertion Extraction Systems). As the sun was setting, I had a great opportunity to grab some more cool shots. Here are a few:
Colombian UH-60L in a perfect hover
A Colombian Rescatista sliding down the Fast Rope
Colombian Rescatistas attaching themselves to the SPIES rope
SPIES liftoff!
I had only read about this maneuver but had never seen it in person before today. Incredible!
The rope is about 250′ long and they are about 300′ off the ground at this point
After dangling beneath the flying aircraft for about 10 minutes, they landed at the same training field
Teamwork is crucial to safety and success!
A shot of Palanquero AB looking west at sunset
The flying this afternoon was perfect. The temperature finally cooled down following a hot, steamy day and the jungle was breathtaking as the sun dipped beneath mountains. The lights of Dorada flickered on just a few hundred feet below and I thought about how fortunate I am to be having such an incredible experience.
I can’t wait for water ops tomorrow!
Related Posts
1. A Night in Orlando – Colombia Chronicles
2. Arriving in Bogota - Colombia Chronicles
3. SECDEF, the FARC, and Palanquero - Colombia Chronicles
4. Helicopter Academics - Colombia Chronicles
5. Urban Rescue Ops – Colombia Chronicles
6. Free Fall Skydiving – Colombia Chronicles
7. Snatch-and-grab – Colombia Chronicles
The pictures in here fascinate me to DO SOMETHING LIKE THIS ALSO!! Thank you for sharing!
Blessings,
-Naima.
Glad you enjoyed them Naima!
These pictures are amazing! I’m enjoying this Columbia Chronicles series so much!
Thanks Sarai! I almost quit because I want sure anybody was enjoying it. Thanks for the encouragement! Still a few more posts to go!
I’ll be reading!
Cool to see the training drill pics. One thing that made me chuckle from the last post was that one of the guys is wearing the same helmet I have for skateboarding. I always imagined that everyone would have some super technologically advanced helmet but I guess a Pro-Tec works!
Yep! Pro-Tec’s are international and cheap!
The helicopter crew has a much more advanced helmet with NVG connections and such, but the para-rescue guys need something more versatile.