Lifting cranes, for raising flipped flying machines so rescuers can remove the pilot, or for hauling decked aircraft out of harm's way, roll with the fire trucks, as do the ever ready ambulance, the utility truck with slings and forcible cockpit entry equipment and the communication jeeps. Two Piasecki HUP helicopters for air-sea rescue make up the crash crew's air force. Five chopper pilots, led by Captain Max Schumaker, fly on the supposition that no place is inaccessible to their whirly-birds when a human life is involved. Whenever the helicopters take off on a rescue run, whether headed for the open sea or the rugged mountains east of the airfield, an experienced crash crewman is aboard. His job is to size up the mishap, determine what equipment is needed to cope with the crash and get it moving to the scene of the accident as quickly as possible.
Summer adds to the work.
Brush fires in the boondocks started by wounded airplanes have to be extinguished-by the crash crew. Fig 5 Charlie position, in the center of the airfield, with a foam truck and its crew of five always ready to move out. On-station crises, particularly on landing approaches, are more common. Normally the bell rings eight to 10 times a week although each turnout does not necessarily mean a crash. Deferred emergencies where the pilot knows, suspects or has an instrument reading showing something wrong with the aircraft send men to predesignated positions along the runway but often their efforts end in a dry run.