my name is Caroline White . I'm the
deputy operations group Sandoval Chief .
Well I have the luxury of flying three
different aircraft . I fly the T 38
which is a supersonic jet trainer . I
fly the C 12 which is a dual engine
prop plane . And then I also fly ahh
sixties which is a rescue platform um
helicopter .
Uh So I again have the luxury of being
in the Air National Guard in addition
to working here . So our mission is
combat search and rescue uh in addition
to National Search and Rescue . So any
kind of disaster or anything here in
the state of California , we get called
to utilize their helicopters and an
airborne platform to rescue people . So
one of the things about being a
helicopter pilot specifically is having
to think on your feet and you don't
have computers , you don't have
calculators . Um you have to use your
mind and it's a very dynamic situation
that you may not have all the
information . So you're making the best
guests and trying to optimize a
solution in your head . Um so I'm
constantly doing mental math um and
updating my solution if you will about
how many people can we fit on this
aircraft ? How much fuel do I need to
do this ? How far can we fly ? How fast
should I be flying ? Um It's like I
said , it's very dynamic and something
I think is unique that I can't , I
can't utilize some computer , there's
not approved solution
in relation to rescue . I would say one
of the more intense and ultimately one
of the more rewarding things I've done
was being involved in hurricane support
for hurricane Harvey in the course of
three days , our squadron rescued over
100 people . Um , so that as I
mentioned with a dynamic mission , um ,
you would just land in the hospital ,
drop off your last person , You didn't
know what your next mission was . As
soon as you take off , you get radioed
in a call about , hey , go to this
coordinates , figure out how to rescue
this many people or you may not even
know how many people you're rescuing ,
you would get to somewhere and it's
completely different from what was
described . Um , so it was very intense
three days , but it's very rewarding .
Uh so aside from luck and timing , uh ,
took quite a bit of education and work
to get here . Um I went to the United
States Air Force Academy , got a uh
Bachelor's of Engineering there , and
then after that I went to graduate
school , which was another two years
and then I went to pilot training ,
which was another year and a half to
two years , So lots of training , lots
of studying , um , which ultimately
paid out in the end . I have no regrets
on that .
So advice for students would be
to , um really believe in yourself and
know that sometimes it looks like
things just aren't gonna work and
there's been many times that I've had
that , I just thought this is , this is
kind of pointless . Why am I trying ?
But um you really have to have faith in
yourself and faith in your mission , or
faith and whatever it is that you're
trying to achieve , um that things will
look dark , but um in the end it's
always it's always been worth it .