There’s plenty of footage of helicopters swooping in to rescue beleaguered hikers on the ’net, but there’s a reason we’re bringing you this one: it’s such good quality. Hell, they even use two different camera angles and edit between them! – well, California is the home of filmmaking!
Oh, also for the great moment of aerial precision when it looks like the helicopter is going to drag the rescuer dangling from a harness through a lake – but we should trust the skills of these pilots to know what they’re doing.
The rescue happened this past weekend, when a California Highway Patrol (CHP) helicopter went to help a hiker in distress in Solano County.
The CHP stated that the hiker suffered some kind of medical emergency on Sunday afternoon while on the Blue Ridge Trail Loop east of Lake Berryessa. Solano County Fire Dispatch was able to provide the CHP and Vacaville Fire Protection District with GPS coordinates to allow the helicopter crew to locate the hiker..
The helicopter crew lowered a Vacaville firefighter to the hiker's location and the hiker was placed in a harness and hoisted from the trail.
The helicopter then airlifted the hiker to the Canyon Creek Resort where he was transferred to a Vacaville Fire Department ambulance. The video details both the rescue and the hiker being taken to the lodge next to the lake.
The condition of the hiker has not been disclosed.
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