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Show A8 The Salt Lake Tribune Lost at Sea: 2 Rescue Crews Must Turn Back whispering into the mike on his headset. The Jayhawk labors skyward, and, against vicious headwinds, turns for Sitka. The crew huddles therein the indigo cabinlight, trying not to think about the people they left behind. @ Continued fromA-1 rescue helicopter is 15 minutes from arriving when a call comes than two hours old now, andtime over the high-frequency radio. is running out for any survivors The caller identifies himself as the captain of Alaska Airlines flight 196, a commercial jetiiner en route from Anchorage to Seattle for a possibly downedhelicopter andits four-man crew “Coast Guard . We've received a radio transmission from oneofyoursister helos. . . H-60 ‘Time to Go’: One hundred and fifty miles away, over the Fairweather Grounds, the first rescue helicopter is still airborne. Flight commander Adickes says they are aborting mission and returningtobase They report four to five people are still in the water, over.” Lt. David messag' Durham rogers the ir job has just gotten easier. Case of Nerves: The second struggling in the 38-degreewater And now theyalso have to look Jayhawk NATION Mission Incomplete: Durham, 38, had beenpiloting heli- copterssince graduatingfrom the Coast Guard academy in 1982 He'd flown in Alaska for more than three of those years and thought he'd seen ugly weather Until now. He is cruising at 300 feet be neath a heavy cloud cover, backing windsare pushingtheaircraft Wednesday, December23, 1998 bands are swinging across his path like slamming doors. Whenhis direction finder hits on the EPIRBdistress signal, in- flight mechanic Chris Windnagle sees something twinkle. It must be the strobe light from the EPIRB. scene, Durham swings the helicopter. But instead of heading like a fish float, They're drifting dicating they've arrived at the back, it sails north as if skidding onice. To fight off the headwinds, Durham will say later, he has to “erab” the helicopter, swinging the nose andtail back and forth like a scampering crustacean. It takes them 25 minutes to return a half mile. Durham and Lt. Russell Zullick, his co-pilot, take turns steering through a cloverleaf search pattern. For 45 minutesthey find nothing. Then, from the jump door, into a 200-knot sprint and rain The survivors are clustered aroundthe strobe and what looks sputter out. Durham’s not sure, but he figures they're close to not having enough fuel to return to base. “Whatdo you think?”he asks his co-pilot. Zullick just nods. It's 12:49 a.m. — five hours and 47 minutes since the La Conte so fast that Zullick has to reprogram his instruments every few minutes just to keep up. sank, water andburstto life a half mile upwind of the survivors. Windnagle pitches out the basket and it flies back to the rotor tail. He drowning or dying from hypothermia. Durham takes the Jayhawk up to 300feet and veers backto base. again to get it down to the water near the survivors. After seven tries, the closest he can drop it is about 30 feet from ert Doyleand his exhausted crewmates watch their hopes clatter Out go five flares. They hit winchesit backin,tries again and the strobelight. After 20 minutes, the smokes With each minute, ‘Two hundred feet below, Rob- away. THURSDAY:Some hope amid Jashing wind and waves. It has been on scene for an hour and 20 minutes when Lt. William Adickes, the flight commander, decides he has reachedhis limit His crew can’t get the rescue basket closer than 40 feet to the survivors, and they're too ex- hausted and afraid to swim to it. Theflares his team tossed into the i are sputtering out rescue baske able that lowers the constant chafir s ruined, frayedby against theside of thehelicopter Lt. Dan Moithen, his co-pilot, is dizzy andretching from theaireraft’s jackham His flight mechanic, 1 Whitherspoon, is shaking from exhaustion andvertigo and islosing ing in his left arm from hypothe rm unications, Th andthe fu gauge is dropping Adickes is only minutes from “bingo,” the point at which the helicopter doesn't have enough fuelto return to bas “It’s timeto go,” he remembers ooryey)‘All Handbags Save 25% onAll. Kyfo)Aetay ~ Save50%., 14kt Gold & Sterling Silver Jewelry Keg $16 to $80 SALE$8to $40. Styles vary 2 Days Only, Save an EXTRA15% 2-DayBONUS COUPON. Women’s Clothing & Shoes 2+ De | Take An EXTRA| tons _EXTRA Men’s Children’s Clothing & Shoes | Clothing & Shoes Take An oe ff ! 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