Episode 1 Helicopter Rescue

The mountains and coastline of Wales,

both beautiful and treacherous.

That's all copied, 122 approaching the scene.

Wales has the busiest RAF Search and Rescue operation

in the whole of Britain.

Hundreds of people are saved every year by the iconic

yellow Sea King helicopters.

In this series, we follow the real-life rescue stories

from a mountainside to hospital bedside.

MAN CRIES OUT

Our cameras have been allowed behind-the-scenes access

to the two RAF flights serving Wales.

Never before has the force been under such a spotlight

with a royal co-pilot serving within its ranks.

This is the story of the men and women

who work with Prince William 365 days a year, 24/7.

This time on Helicopter Rescue,

a 60th birthday in Snowdonia is spent on a knife-edge.

The casualty is...

She was in a lot of pain.

Any movement and it was quite severe pain for her.

We find out what happened next to this daredevil

kayaker as he plummets over this South Wales waterfall.

And we venture into "The Graveyard to discover the Welsh roots

of the RAF's Mountain Rescue Service.

From their remote base on the northwestern tip of Anglesey

the Search and Rescue team at RAF Valley

get their first call-out of the day.

59, female.

C Flight's Rescue 122 is scrambled to help a casualty

in one of the most perilous locations

in the mountains of Snowdonia.

Ankle on Crib Goch.

The winchman on this rescue is Ed Griffiths.

It's quite a notorious bit, Crib Goch,

it's a ridge line in Snowdonia with 1,000-foot drops either side of it.

A lot of people either fall or become stuck up there.

Unfortunately, I've had a few fatalities on that ridge line, as well.

Today, there are four crew members on the rescue.

The two pilots can talk to Ed and the radar operator

-throughout the operation.

-..looking normal...

Their target is to be airborne within 15 minutes.

But Rescue 122 is usually up and away in half that time.

All stations, this is Rescue 122 Sea King helicopter proceeding to Crib Goch.

The RAF Search and Rescue flights

are based in six locations around Britain.

But it's the two flights patrolling Wales

which have the most call outs every year,

from the Royal Marines Barracks in Chivenor in the South,

and RAF Valley in the north.

Ankle injury, is that pretty much what we...?

Yeah. 57-year old female.

On a sunny October weekend,

Rescue 122 know they're going to be busy.

The vast majority of call-outs for the crew from Valley

are in the mountains of Snowdonia.

It's familiar territory for winchman Ed.

RADIO: All stations. This is Rescue 122...

'We average here around 250 - 300 rescues a year.

'80 per cent are within 30 miles of Valley here,

'the majority of which are in Snowdonia.

'Already this year, just on Crib Goch

'which is one of the ridge lines in Snowdonia,'

I think we have completed around 25 rescues on Crib Goch itself.

-Keep along the rocks there.

-They're climbing, they're not waving.

Rescue 122 have reached the infamous Crib Goch ridge

and are starting the search for the casualty.

That's where I reckon the grid point is.

I'm going to fly left, you keep your eyes out.

The RAF's rescue coordination centre in Scotland calls in

to give the crew more details about the casualty's location.

This is Rescue 122, go ahead, sir.

'Roger. The casualty is 5-0 metres,

'that is 5-0 metres from the summit of Crib Goch.

'Two in party...'

It's one of the most dangerous routes to the summit of Snowdon.

'..Casualty in a red waterproof.'

Its latest victim is a 59-year-old woman with an ankle injury.

'Crib Goch is easily accessible from the car park.

'You park your car and walk up on the ridge line

'and it suddenly becomes extremely difficult and dangerous.'

Some people are lucky and break legs,

unfortunately I've been involved in a few fatalities

and have had to pick up some bodies off the ridge line or the base of the ridge line.

-Target sighted, 3 o'clock.

-Visual.

-We have got to go to the other side. Copy.

-Should be OK...

They've found the casualty. But now there's another problem.

The strong downdraught from the helicopter

is threatening to blow the backlog of walkers off the ridge.

Radar operator Nick Swannick needs them to hunker down on the rocks

or the Sea King can't get any closer.

At last, Ed can be winched down to the casualty.

Perched above a thousand foot drop,

the other walkers now have a ringside seat

to the unfolding rescue.

Eight. Out the door, off the harness.

-Come up a tiny bit.

-Copy.

On a piece of wire, no thicker than a pencil,

Ed is slowly lowered down.

As a fully qualified paramedic,

Ed is taking his medic bag down with him.

'Once you're there, you're interested in treating the casualty.'

She was in a lot of pain.

Any movement, and it was quite severe pain for her.

'Unfortunately, the line of work that we do,

'we see some quite horrific sights.'

The winchman is usually the first person to arrive on the scene.

Ed has experienced some horrific incidents in the past,

especially here on Crib Goch.

To help him deal with such events, Ed turns to his family.

'Coming home, it separates everything.

'I have got Helen, and especially now little Xavier's here.'

Do you want some more?

Just down the road from RAF Valley, Ed and his wife Helen

have just celebrated their son's first birthday.

'It's great to have the two separate parts to my life.

'It just takes your mind of it.'

It enables you to de-stress,

and realise that that's not everything, if you like.

If he wants to talk about it, then, yeah.

I'm quite nosy so I try and find things out,

but I know if he doesn't want to talk then we just leave it. But, yes.

And when Xavier gets a bit older,

there's a special birthday surprise waiting for him.

Three years ago, after being nominated

by his colleagues, his own dad was immortalised in plastic.

Something not everybody can say, they're married to an action man.

-I feel quite proud.

-For me it's just fun, isn't it?

It's every boy's little dream to be an Action Man.

I have one upstairs and hopefully for Xavier when he's a bit older,

when he thinks I'm old and boring and past it,

hopefully he'll look at the box and think,

"Actually, Dad used to do something worthwhile once."

Something For him to show his friends, "My dad's an Action Man."

It's probably got a bit more hair than me, I think.

On the infamous Crib Goch ridge,

Rescue 122 prepares to winch the casualty off the mountain.

On the ground. Steady. Winching in.

Over 3,000-feet in the air, it's the first time

59 year old Fiona McArthur has ever been winched.

'I don't like heights. I really don't like heights.

'It's just the thought of it.

'Just dangling in the fresh air.

'I just closed my eyes and hoped for the best.'

'I tend to find that everyone...

'sort of tell a joke, make light of the situation

'and people get a little bit more relaxed.

'They don't tend to respond well if you say,'

"Do think this wire will hold us both?"

They don't like it when you do that. I've learnt that!

Radar Operator Nick Swannick guides Ed and Fiona into the Sea King.

Hoist the pilots.

Safe on board, Ed has some important news to share

with the rest of the crew.

Her 60th birthday present, a walk on Snowdon this is.

-Her 60th birthday present?

-And a helicopter flight.

Cheapskate, that's a birthday present!

As her husband carries on to the summit of Snowdon,

the birthday girl is taken on the short journey

to Bangor's Ysbyty Gwynedd.

Woo! Unreal. Unreal!

'I've never broken anything before in my life!'

Well, it's going to be a birthday to remember, isn't it?

Last year alone over 500 cries for help

were answered by the two RAF flights covering Wales.

RAF Valley on Anglesey is the headquarters

for the whole Search and Rescue force in the UK.

Over 160 people work here doing all manner of jobs

essential to the smooth running of the service.

The headquarters also serves as a home

to the on duty members of the 22 Squadron C Flight crew

whoever they are.

'To have Prince William here is both a pleasure and an honour.'

The banter is rife, and he gives as soon as he gets.

'It's just a normal, professional relationship that we

'have all together and we do the job'

'to the best of our ability, as does he.'

We're all effective members of C Flight.

I have never been so nervous in all my life.

But he's just normal.

Fight Lieutenant Wales, graduated as a Search and Rescue pilot

after a 19-month training programme,

six months of which was spent at RAF Valley on Anglesey.

-Can you take that a sec, just going to put my...

-Roger.

Your brakes, if we need them.

He's now training here to become a captain,

an ambition shared by another co-pilot.

Taff Wilkins from Port Talbot is based at the RAF Flight in Chivenor.

'I always wanted to be a pilot form a young age.

'I went to a cadets when I was quite young.'

Went to an interview with the Air Force after college.

Was fortunate to get accepted.

From the Royal Marines Barracks at Chivenor in North Devon,

22 Squadron A Flight takes care of South and mid-Wales.

A call-out comes in from the Brecon Beacons.

Today Taff is in charge of the Sea King

with captain Hugh Pearce at his side.

This is Rescue 169. We're airborne. We have six persons on board.

Two hours. Our ETA to follow.

Taff and his crew have been called

to one of the most dangerous areas in the Brecon Beacons.

A kayaker has been injured

after diving off the Sgwd y Pannwr waterfall.

Taff gets more details on the casualty from the aircraft captain, Hugh Pearce.

Spinal compression injury.

The grid is near the waterfalls that we're talking about.

We've been called to a guy who has fallen and hurt his spine

in a tricky to access place.

The weather's quite bad as well,

we're just discussing low-level options to go in.

The waterfall country in the Neath Valley

is full of gorges and ravines.

It attracts thousands of walkers, kayakers and canoeists.

But the difficult terrain makes it a hot spot for accidents.

24-year old Tom Crowther was shooting the Sgwd y Pannwr waterfall.

Although he cleared the drop,

the landing has resulted in injury to his back.

Brecon Beacons Mountain Rescue are already on the scene.

But they need the Sea King to get the casualty out.

The main decision for Taff is how to get to his casualty.

The area is full of dense forests so it's impossible to land.

The only option is to find a safe place to hover.

Only then can paramedic Rachel Robinson be winched down to join the Mountain Rescue teams on the ground.

But hovering this low is a dangerous option.

'We operate in two ways in the aircraft. You've got the fly away option and the committed option.'

Fly away so you get lots of height. If there is a problem with the aircraft, you can fly away.

If you operate "committed", it means if there's a problem, like if you did lose an engine,

you've got to commit to what's in front of you - to choose between the two.

'You're either low and committed or you're high and you've got the fly-away.'

Taff has decided to commit the helicopter to the winch-down.

This means he now has to lower the helicopter down into the narrow ravine.

Roger. Committed. We'll have to "commit" to get Rachel, I think.

In such a deep ravine with dense forests either side, hovering this low is a dangerous option.

But it's the only one available to winch the casualty on board.

Radar operator Seaweed prepares to winch down Rachel the paramedic.

I have got Rachel with her bag. Over the side. Winching out. Steady. Your height is good.

-Tips and tail well clear.

-Roger.

Winching out.

Steady. Height good.

Winching out. Steady.

'You don't want to put yourself in danger because once you're in danger you can't help the casualty.

'But sometimes, we have to push ourselves a little bit more than we'd like to.'

For the past 70 years, the men and women of the RAF's Search and Rescue force

have been putting their own lives at risk to save others.

AIR RAID SIREN

World War Two.

In order to gain air superiority over the enemy,

airbases were built all over the country to train aircrew.

One of Wales's busiest was RAF Llandwrog on the outskirts of Caernarfon.

From here, pilots had to navigate some of the toughest terrain in Britain.

But not everyone succeeded.

This is the Carnedda range, the northern part of Snowdonia National Park.

Eventually, the central part of this range

would be called "The Graveyard"

because of so many aircraft crashes.

There were a lot of trainee navigators on these flights

so they made errors in navigation, quite serious ones sometimes.

Whilst training, more and more inexperienced crews lost their lives.

Even if they survived the initial crash, the treacherous conditions soon claimed more victims.

The need for a proper search and rescue operation became apparent to one man in particular.

Flight Lieutenant George Graham set up a small mountain rescue team at RAF Llandwrog,

the first of its kind.

The pioneering heroics of these volunteers even made the news of the day.

ARCHIVE: '...the RAF Mountain Rescue Service for saving airmen who crash in remote mountainous country.

'The difficulties and dangers of search amid the rugged and fog-bound peaks

'have been largely overcome by the use of radio.

'A unit consists of an ambulance equipped with a powerful wireless set and a Jeep which acts as a tender.'

The team had - would you believe? - normal RAF issue grey coats,

and Army issue boots. That was about it.

By January 1944, the Air Ministry agreed these Mountain Rescue teams were a necessity

considering the number of crashes that there were on high ground.

ARCHIVE: 'Negotiating a stretcher down a rocky mountainside is just about as difficult as it looks.'

They are the heroes for me. In all weathers, they never said it's too damp or too wet to go out.

They were off like a shot if they thought there was someone who could be saved on the mountains.

By the 1950s, the RAF began to use helicopters in their search and rescue work.

At the heart of the service today are the iconic Agusta Westland Sea Kings.

Out of the five helicopters based at RAF Valley, two have to be on permanent standby

and ready to be deployed at all times.

That's a constant challenge for Mark Layton and the rest of the engineering crew.

I've worked on Sea Kings for over eight years now.

There's always something you can learn.

They're old aircraft and they always throw up different challenges.

These over 30-year-old Sea Kings have been going a fair few while.

Apart from the skin of the aircraft, everything inside has probably changed at one point.

They're workhorses. They keep going and they do their job

when they're not sat in the hangar broken!

In the Neath Valley, Rescue 169 from Chivenor is recovering an injured kayaker

from the Sgwd y Pannwr waterfall.

Hovering this low in a ravine is a very tricky manoeuvre for wannabe captain Taff Wilkins.

With a suspected spinal injury, there's no time to waste.

From the side door of the Sea King,

radar operator Seaweed acts as a second pair of eyes for Taff, helping him with a difficult hover.

No blowing trees. No blowing branches.

All the people are clear.

Height good. Really nice hover, Taff.

Steady. Height good.

No swing on the stretcher.

Tip to tail clear.

-Creeping forward.

-Yep, height good. Up five, please.

OK, let's get up to a nice fly away height, please. You're clear. Roger fly away.

Kayaker Tom Crowther is safe on board and Rachel gives an assessment of his condition.

GROANS

This is Tom. A possible lumbar.

His breathing and everything else is fine. He's been stable throughout.

He's very cold.

The crew head off to the University of Wales hospital in Cardiff to get him some urgent medical treatment.

The past ten years have seen a marked increase in call-outs to extreme sports accidents in Wales,

in the south and north of the country.

People now will stretch them limits because they know that, in a worst case scenario,

they can pick up the mobile phone and call somebody in.

That's why we see a general increase

in the number of rescues we are being called out to.

A lone paraglider's helmet camera

catches a dramatic view of the Glyder range in Snowdonia as he descends.

But this paraglider is in trouble.

He's losing height too quickly and is desperate to find a clear place to land.

Winchman Ed Griffiths and the rest of Rescue 122

have just dropped off their second casualty of the day at Ysbyty Gwynedd,

when the cry for help comes in from the Glyder range.

VOICE ON RADIO

-RADIO:

-This is 122. Over.

You're wanted on another job. We have a collapsed paraglider...

Rescue 122 are on their third job of the day, and they have no time to refuel.

-How much fuel?

-We've got one hour, 15 endurance.

-Copy.

Rescue 122 copies. 661587.

Five minutes to scene. I have one hour, 15 minutes endurance.

Captain Thomas Bunn and Radar Operator Nick Swannick assess the situation.

-So it's a crashed paraglider.

-Yep. We have a possible casualty on scene to consider.

We'll have a look first. Yeah.

I'm on the northern edge of the Glyder.

Ed and the crew are looking for the crashed paraglider on the northern edge of the Glyder range

on Bristly Ridge.

Roger. Entering the bowl, guys, next to Bristly Ridge.

Eyes out!

As luck would have it, an off-duty Mountain Rescue volunteer has already found the downed paraglider.

-Is that the casualty?

-That could be the MR. They're going to be with him, aren't they?

-See the unit to the left?

-Yeah. OK.

But now Rescue 122 face the same problem as the paraglider.

They need to land the Sea King to save fuel

but the terrain is too rocky.

-Ed is walking to the injury. Let's just winch down.

-OK.

The crew opt for the winch-down.

Steady.

Steady. On the ground.

Unhooked. Empty hook.

The paraglider has survived the accident

but Ed knows that this is a potential spinal injury

and he must immobilise him as soon as possible.

-Are you OK with needles?

-Yes.

-Yes, 122 mobile.

Approximately two-zero minutes while I secure the casualty.

So you can nip for gas and come back.

The Sea King heads off to refuel.

You're getting cold, are you?

After falling a 130 feet, remarkably 52-year-old Peter Hope from Anglesey

has lived to tell the tale.

'I remember the land rushing up at me.

'I remember landing on my feet

'and that's when I felt as though I'd hurt myself.'

Ready, brace, roll. Nice and slowly.

Nice and slowly. Roll him over. Right.

Let's wrap him like a sausage roll.

'Two vertebrae crushed which caused the fracture.'

It's quite fortunate that is was only those two, I think.

'The incident itself hasn't put me off paragliding.'

'Paragliding is a great sport. It's, um...'

People say you're free as a bird. It's flying without a motor.

It's great.

'At the moment I want to go up and fly.'

-How is he, Ed?

-He's OK. Yeah.

He's dropped 150ft, landed on his feet,

and he's complaining of back pain.

So...but he's all stable. There's no, you know, everything is normal.

Just the pain in his spine.

'It's the 70th anniversary of the RAF Rescue.'

It's a great service. To have it on our doorstep is fantastic.

I wouldn't like to say that I'd like to use them again

but it's nice to know they're there.

Peter only had to spend a day in hospital before being released in a back brace.

He has to wear it for three months

before he even thinks of taking to the skies again.

Three jobs and I've had 20 minutes for a chicken burger,

in amongst the last seven hours!

Hopefully we'll get a break to get something to drink and eat now,

before the next one comes in.

It's been a marathon weekend for the Search and Rescue force.

Kayaker Tom Crowther had compressed his lower vertebrae

and needed five days in hospital to recover from his fall.

After dropping him at Heath Hospital Cardiff,

Taff and the crew head back to base.

We'll have a cheese and beans toastie.

Beans on toast with cheese!

-Cheese and beans on, yeah!

-I'll do that.

After her birthday surprise on Crib Goch,

Fiona McArthur hobbled out in plaster

from Ysbyty Gwynedd later that day.

My hands are all sweaty!

And it's a welcome end of shift at RAF Valley, especially for Ed, with Helen and Xavier to greet him.

But as one shift comes to an end,

another begins for the RAF's Search and Rescue team.

A 59-year-old male with an ankle injury.

To know that that service is there is...a great comfort.

You know, you haven't got to try and get off the hill with injuries.

It's a fantastic service.

Next time on Helicopter Rescue:

It's half-term week - one of the force's busiest times of year.

Ed and the crew are between a rock and a hard place,

as they battle to save an injured student on treacherous coastline.

We just weren't able to carry her over that sort of terrain.

Time and tide wait for no man - especially this one.

A call for help comes in from a cliff edge in South Wales.

This guy's on a ledge, so we don't want to blow him off. He's in trouble, for sure.

And it's a night of high drama,

as the Search and Rescue force fly to Mid Wales

to try to save a father and son from an uncertain fate.

Steady. That's the most difficult job I've ever had to do.

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