Suddenly, he said, the importance of training for an emergency struck him. I looked back and all the kids were there. The kids were smiling, that s when it hit me, Ganz said. Weather conditions in Traverse City Friday morning almost made the rescue impossible. Crews made several attempts to take off before Kaye and his crew made it out of the base on their second try.
Helicopters don t have de-icing equipment and in cold weather they can t fly into clouds.
On Friday morning, the ceiling was about 100 feet, making it impossible to clear power lines en route to West Bay. Crews attempted to take off about every 15 minutes, and on his second attempt Kaye was able to make it to East Bay where he could fly north to Beaver Island. By the time they reached the island, conditions improved and they had a 500 foot ceiling and visibility of 400 to 500 feet. They were also hampered on their way into Charlevoix where fog in the area made visibility so bad they couldn t find the airport. Kaye said he was considering landing at the Charlevoix High School football field or heading back out to Lake Michigan for a second approach when they located the airport.