WEBVTT 00:16.430 --> 00:18.208 My name is Brian Bailey . I'm a 00:18.208 --> 00:20.263 government civilian here at Aviation 00:20.263 --> 00:22.152 Training Center in Mobile and I'm 00:22.152 --> 00:24.263 currently the flight training systems 00:24.263 --> 00:26.597 manager . Back during Hurricane Katrina , 00:26.597 --> 00:28.708 I was a lieutenant in the Coast Guard 00:28.708 --> 00:30.708 and an H-60 pilot . So the night of 00:30.708 --> 00:32.708 Hurricane Katrina , most of us were 00:32.708 --> 00:35.049 already at home because we were waiting 00:35.049 --> 00:37.759 to be called back in and so , uh , 00:37.770 --> 00:39.937 power had gone out . A lot of us got a 00:39.937 --> 00:42.159 phone call about 9 o'clock to come in . 00:42.169 --> 00:44.336 They , uh , briefed us that there have 00:44.336 --> 00:46.391 been some calls in New Orleans where 00:46.391 --> 00:48.391 people were stranded on different , 00:48.391 --> 00:50.280 different , uh , places . We were 00:50.280 --> 00:52.939 instructed to go to . A bridge on a 00:52.939 --> 00:56.340 levee uh at lakefront in New Orleans uh 00:56.340 --> 00:58.173 then we went and met our crew we 00:58.173 --> 01:00.229 briefed them up and we departed here 01:00.229 --> 01:02.610 about midnight on the way down we knew 01:02.610 --> 01:04.443 that uh there are a lot of power 01:04.443 --> 01:06.970 outages in South Alabama , Mississippi 01:06.970 --> 01:10.099 and Louisiana . Uh , normally we would 01:10.099 --> 01:12.300 see radio towers lit up and , and none 01:12.300 --> 01:14.139 of those were lit , so we were 01:14.139 --> 01:16.260 concerned about those kind of hazards 01:16.260 --> 01:18.260 about flying into something , so we 01:18.260 --> 01:20.415 went offshore . And where we knew we 01:20.415 --> 01:22.775 were safe and flew into Lake Bjorn , 01:22.955 --> 01:25.122 which connects to Lake Pontchartrain . 01:25.122 --> 01:27.011 It's about 30 in the morning . We 01:27.011 --> 01:29.288 needed fuel , so we went to Homaarabbo , 01:29.288 --> 01:31.344 uh , which was the only airport that 01:31.344 --> 01:33.511 was refueling us . We were told not to 01:33.511 --> 01:35.733 go to Air station New Orleans that they 01:35.733 --> 01:37.955 had been devastated by the hurricane as 01:37.955 --> 01:39.955 well . So after refueling , uh , we 01:39.955 --> 01:41.955 went back into the city and started 01:41.955 --> 01:43.955 working in the area we had left the 01:43.955 --> 01:46.011 night before and that's when the sun 01:46.011 --> 01:48.177 was coming up and we saw that time how 01:48.177 --> 01:48.099 how much the city was flooded and how 01:48.099 --> 01:50.129 much devastation there was and that 01:50.129 --> 01:53.830 this was gonna be a big event . My name 01:53.830 --> 01:56.660 is Reagan Payne , Chief Warrant Officer , 01:57.089 --> 01:59.033 and , uh , I'm the H60 maintenance 01:59.033 --> 02:01.830 officer here at ATC Mobile . Uh , at 02:01.830 --> 02:04.110 the time I was stationed in Air Station 02:04.110 --> 02:06.349 Clearwater , and I was on the heavy 02:06.349 --> 02:10.070 maintenance team there , and we flew up 02:10.070 --> 02:13.149 here on the C-130 to do maintenance 02:13.149 --> 02:15.279 during the hurricane . It was an E5 02:15.279 --> 02:17.470 AMT2 at the time . That that was that 02:17.470 --> 02:19.526 was our goal , make sure that we did 02:19.526 --> 02:21.581 the job right the first time . There 02:21.581 --> 02:23.692 was not a lot of time . There's not a 02:23.692 --> 02:25.914 lot of room for mistakes like having to 02:25.914 --> 02:27.803 redo work if we made a mistake or 02:27.803 --> 02:29.859 anything like that with doing any of 02:29.859 --> 02:31.803 the repairs or replacements of the 02:31.803 --> 02:35.289 parts and safety safety for the air 02:35.289 --> 02:37.610 crews that was our goal . It felt like 02:37.610 --> 02:39.721 we really accomplished something even 02:39.721 --> 02:41.666 though I wasn't actually out there 02:41.666 --> 02:45.250 doing the missions . I know that . It 02:45.250 --> 02:48.009 was a team effort and and without us uh 02:48.009 --> 02:50.231 providing the safe aircraft for the for 02:50.231 --> 02:52.398 the crews that they wouldn't have been 02:52.398 --> 02:54.620 able to do their jobs . So I say it was 02:54.620 --> 02:56.620 rewarding and fulfilling um to know 02:56.620 --> 02:58.787 that I , I helped participate in uh in 02:58.787 --> 02:59.787 the rescues . 03:03.970 --> 03:06.199 It was like watching one of these 03:06.199 --> 03:08.720 natural disaster films , uh , like I 03:08.720 --> 03:10.776 said , there were some fires uh that 03:10.776 --> 03:12.998 we're assuming they were gas line leaks 03:12.998 --> 03:14.887 that had caught fire , there were 03:14.887 --> 03:16.998 buildings on fire or houses on fire . 03:16.998 --> 03:19.109 Uh , cars were submerged underwater . 03:19.109 --> 03:21.276 Uh , some of them were shorting out so 03:21.276 --> 03:23.498 you could see headlights on some of the 03:23.498 --> 03:25.442 cars , which is , which is kind of 03:25.442 --> 03:27.553 strange . We probably had hundreds of 03:27.553 --> 03:29.553 people on the aircraft in the 1st 4 03:29.553 --> 03:31.720 days . The one that stuck out the most 03:31.720 --> 03:33.942 though was , it was probably one of the 03:33.942 --> 03:35.887 most challenging hoists was , uh , 03:35.887 --> 03:37.887 getting 2 elderly people out of the 03:37.887 --> 03:40.240 bedroom and the the rescue swimmer cut 03:40.240 --> 03:42.910 a hole . In the roof , went into the 03:42.910 --> 03:45.550 attic , cut a hole in the ceiling , and 03:45.550 --> 03:47.910 we threaded a basket and threw an attic 03:47.910 --> 03:50.550 into a bedroom and pulled two elderly 03:50.550 --> 03:52.606 people out of there that were surely 03:52.606 --> 03:54.272 gonna die probably of of heat 03:54.272 --> 03:56.328 exhaustion in the next 2 days or the 03:56.328 --> 03:58.389 next 2 hours . Um , getting those 03:58.389 --> 04:00.500 people out and getting them to safety 04:00.500 --> 04:02.830 was probably the most rewarding hoist 04:02.830 --> 04:05.910 of the whole , uh , event . We were , 04:06.100 --> 04:09.149 we were doing what we trained to do we . 04:09.729 --> 04:12.500 That was , it was very rewarding . Uh , 04:12.589 --> 04:14.756 we would have done it for , you know , 04:14.756 --> 04:16.811 another 10 days and or as long as we 04:16.811 --> 04:19.829 needed to to go and , and quite frankly , 04:19.869 --> 04:22.690 you know , enjoy , uh , testing 04:22.690 --> 04:24.670 ourselves , testing our crew , and 04:24.670 --> 04:27.239 getting the job done . Everybody who 04:27.239 --> 04:29.880 could fly wanted to go fly and uh they 04:29.880 --> 04:31.991 all wanted to participate in , in the 04:31.991 --> 04:34.309 rescues . Given the situation , you 04:34.309 --> 04:36.476 know , everybody wanted to , everybody 04:36.476 --> 04:38.476 wanted to do it , everyone was just 04:38.476 --> 04:40.642 pumped and , and , and , uh , ready to 04:40.642 --> 04:40.760 go do their jobs .