Among the many eye-catching products on show at the recent Airborne Law Enforcement Association (ALEA) Convention in Reno, Nev., was the Airborne Tactical Extraction Platform or AirTEP. Resembling a huge upside-down webbed umbrella, the AirTEP, suspended from a large crane, was being demonstrated in the parking lot outside the convention hall.
It weighs just 115 pounds, but is able to hold up to 10 people or 3,500 pounds. Originally developed in France for quick insertion and extraction during special operations missions, the AirTEP has become increasingly popular on this side of the Atlantic and is being used for an increasingly wide variety of missions.
Butch Flythe, Business Development Manager at Aerial Machine and Tool Corp (the North American distributor of the AirTEP) told Vertical that several agencies, such as the San Antonio Police Department in Texas and Snohomish County Sheriffs Office in Washington state, were using the AirTEP fairly extensively for search and rescue missions, as well as for short-haul transport of equipment, and even insertion and extraction of SWAT teams on rooftops or divers, complete with equipment, into water.
If Id have had that with Hurricane Katrina when I was down there working with the Coast Guard, it would have come very handy for rooftop rescue, said Flythe. We would be over a rooftop and down and up, down and upthats a lot of hoist. Theres nothing wrong with hoisting, but if we could have had one of these where I could have just sent it down with a swimmer on it, and had 10 people get on, strap in, and move them right away to the safe zoneI think it would have made a significant difference in the operation if wed have had these.
A recent rescue in Wallace Falls State Park in Washington illustrated the capabilities of the AirTEP well. A 13-year-old boy had fallen onto a tiny ledge above the 270-foot Wallace Falls. It was steep, forested terrain, and they needed to cross the strong rivers current to reach the boy before he could be airlifted out. The complicated maneuver took several hours, and rescue teams waited with the boy overnight, giving him supplies. In the early hours of the morning, the Snohomish County Sherrifs Office arrived to take the boy, the large group of rescuers, and all their equipment away with the AirTEP a procedure that required only three trips.
Thats the big advantage of it, theres not a lot of prep time to get on this thing like a spyrig or having to actually land, clear the area, land get everybody on board, take off, said Flythe. With this thing, you can just put it on the ground and within 15 seconds you can have everybody strapped in and out.
