Cross Landing: the arrival of rotary-wing assistance

According to the scenario, an AS350B helicopter flying from Szolnok to Szeged developed an unexpected fault and had to make a forced landing. The situation was aggravated by the fact that the aircraft crashed into the midst of an ongoing military exercise in Dóc and fell on a motor vehicle. In the mass casualty (MASCAL) situation that arose in seconds, the Hungarian and Serbian units were tasked with jointly stabilizing the casualties, and then with evacuating them aboard three H145M helicopters to Hódmezővásárhely airport, where they transferred them to the medical personnel.

The fast-paced exercise was made possible through substantial background work. the HDF 86th Helicopter Wing provided the air assets; the HDF Medical Center was responsible for the realistic moulage of the casualties; and the members of the training audience arrived from the personnel of the HDF 30th Mechanized Infantry Brigade and from Serbia.

Exercise Director Lieutenant Colonel Endre Daróczy highlighted the main value of the joint work: “An exercise like this is preceded by a great many planning conferences, and while attending them, it was already clear to us that our procedures are different from those of the Serbs. We have many things to learn from each other, and these occasions are perfect for us to exchange the lessons learned in the field and harmonize those procedures which both parties must smoothly adopt during a real-world search and rescue operation.”