Airmen from Nellis Air Force Base deployed two HH-60W Jolly Green II helicopters last week to rescue five Navy sailors after an aircraft incident in California.
The rescue followed a hard landing by an MH-60S Seahawk during a high-altitude training flight near Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake on August 10. Airmen from the 355th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron and the 88th Test and Evaluation Squadron responded after receiving notification around 11:30 a.m. The 355th resolved a circuit breaker issue with a workaround to ensure the helicopters were mission-ready within 30 minutes, departing Nellis at 1 p.m.
The aircrews located the sailors by 3 p.m., assessed their condition, and repositioned to a closer landing zone to ease extraction. All five personnel were safely removed by 3:50 p.m. and transferred to their unit’s ramp at NAWS China Lake.
