VIDEO: The Honolulu Fire Department’s twin-engine Bell 429 helicopter plays a key role in interagency search-and-rescue operations throughout Hawaii. The aircraft was featured as part of a two-day search-and-rescue exercise that involved HFD, the U.S. Coast Guard, Honolulu Ocean Safety and Lifeguard Services, and the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources. It was added to HFD’s fleet last year.
“This helicopter increases our capability in terms of how long we can fly, how many patients we can get on board,” said Honolulu Fire Department helicopter pilot Zachary Potter. “We also have a feature where it’ll actually fly search patterns automated for us, so we can cover a lot more ground and space and actually track where we’re going with each pass that we conduct versus our other helicopters,” Potter explained.
“Search and rescue is one of our primary missions here in Hawaii, and it’s very important here in the community, not only for local families, but also visitors,” said Lt. Tyler Peterson, SAR mission coordinator, U.S. Coast Guard. “We have very challenging ocean conditions, very unpredictable, especially between the channels, between the islands, and working together in these search-and-rescue exercises is very important because we have a lot of assets and a lot of resources that are going to the same area looking for someone,” Peterson added.
