When a distress call came in about a hiker stranded on the face of a cliff, the crew of Henry 1 — the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office helicopter — sprang into action. Tactical flight officer (TFO) Larry Matelli scanned the rugged terrain of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, searching for any trace of the missing man. Every second mattered.
The nighttime rescue posed a unique set of challenges. Relying on thermal imaging, Matelli finally spotted the hiker, clinging to the cliffside about 50 to 60 feet (15 to 18 meters) below the hiking trail he had fallen from. He had been holding on for nearly an hour.
“My fear as we were flying in there was that I was going to watch this man fall to his death,” Matelli said.
The team quickly set up for a longline rescue. Pilot Nigel Cooper expertly maneuvered the Bell 407 into position while Matelli deployed a 100-ft. (30-m) longline to reach the stranded hiker.
“I barely had any footing,” Matelli recalled. “The pilot and I had great communication so the whole time, we were talking to each other and I was telling him where he needed to put me in order to save this guy.”
After a tense operation, the man was brought to safety, narrowly escaping what could have been a fatal plunge. For the crew of Henry 1, it was just another day on the job — but like so many of their missions, this rescue captured national attention.
It’s just one of many examples of the lifesaving work carried out by the elite Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office Aviation Unit. For more than 50 years, this specialized team has evolved from humble beginnings into a highly advanced, multi-mission force, providing critical air support and rescue capabilities to the region.
Origins of an airborne lifeline
The unit’s origins trace back to the 1960s, when Sgt. Ed Wilkinson began flying his own personal helicopter for the sheriff’s office, providing basic air support. What started as an informal arrangement soon grew into a vital part of Sonoma County’s public safety operations.
“He was kind of the very early, primary air support,” said Sgt. Chris Haas, a TFO with the aviation unit. “Obviously no rescues at that time, but it was the foundation of what we’ve built today.”
In the early 1970s, the department purchased its first dedicated helicopter, a Bell 47. “That was kind of the beginning of our aviation program that evolved over the years,” Haas said. As the needs of the community grew, so did the aviation unit’s capabilities.
Over the decades, the fleet upgraded to more advanced models like the Hughes 500 and Bell 206, before settling on the Bell 407 in the late 1990s. The current aircraft, a 407GXP, has been the workhorse of the unit for the past 25 years, cementing its reputation as a premier rescue platform.
“The 407 is just the right platform for us,” Haas said. “With the longline capabilities and advanced technology, it’s really allowed us to take our rescue missions to the next level.”
A team like no other
What makes the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office Aviation Unit so effective isn’t just its state-of-the-art hardware — it’s the highly trained, multidisciplinary crew that brings it all together.
“We take professional pilots, pair them with cops, and then we also bring on professional firefighter paramedics,” Haas explained. “We’re not cross-training anyone — we have these distinct disciplines that come together to form an incredibly capable team.”
Deputy Matelli joined the department in 2012 and became a TFO in 2019. His typical day begins around 11 a.m. and runs until 10 p.m., with a 30-minute callback window for emergencies outside those hours. For Matelli, preparation is key.
“We show up, I’ll go through the helicopter, do a bunch of prep work, check the ropes, check all our rescue gear, check all our medical equipment, make sure everything’s good to go,” Matelli said. “And then basically, we’re on standby until we get a call, but we’ll fly several times a day on air patrol, with the hope that when a call does come out, we have a shorter response time.”
Matelli describes the ever-changing nature of the job as his favorite aspect of being a TFO. “No rescue is the same,” he said. “Even the law enforcement calls, nothing is ever the same.”
As a TFO, Matelli serves as the mission commander, deciding which calls to accept and coordinating with law enforcement, fire, and medical agencies. He is also an emergency medical technician (EMT), providing medical assistance during rescue operations. Matelli emphasizes the critical role of the helicopter’s Boost human external cargo (HEC) hooks in their missions.
“The Boost HEC hooks are probably one of the biggest pieces of technology that we have because we wouldn’t be able to do the rescues if we didn’t have those,” Matelli said.
Precision and adaptability
Nigel Cooper, one of the unit’s two full-time pilots, has been with the department for over five years. Cooper’s extensive experience with vertical reference longline rescue techniques has made him an invaluable asset to the team.
“My favorite part about the job is the diversity in the nature of the calls that we do, combined with the great team that I get to work with,” Cooper said. “We’re all friends outside the unit, we take our job very seriously, but we also have a good time in doing it and reliving the memories of some of the calls that we’ve been on.”
Cooper praises the Bell 407 for its adaptability and effectiveness in rescue operations.
“The narrow body enables you to get out the door and look down. It provides a really unobstructed field of view for the longline,” Cooper said. “And it doesn’t really matter whether we’ve got the 100-ft. [30-m] line on or the 200-ft. [60-m] line, it’s very responsive. Its rotor system is very stable and that enables us to complete the rescue missions that we do.”
Navigating the marine layer fog along the coast and varied terrain within Sonoma County are among the challenges Cooper encounters. The unit’s advanced camera system, particularly the L3Harris MX10 camera with the Shotover mission mapping system, has been a game-changer.
“It’s invaluable for a wide range of operations, from law enforcement to search-and-rescue,” Cooper noted.
Building expertise
The civilian pilots are typically hired from the utility industry, bringing extensive experience in longline operations and other specialized skills.
“We need them to essentially have a career, typically in the utility industry with a longline, before coming to our agency,” Haas said. “We’re not teaching them the techniques — it’s already something they’ve essentially had a career in.”
On the law enforcement side, the flight officers must be seasoned deputy sheriffs within the agency.
“We’re looking for experienced cops to bring them up here,” Haas said. “One way we do cross-train is that our cops all have to be EMTs. So we do send our guys to EMT school.”
The paramedics, meanwhile, are full-time firefighters from various Bay Area agencies who work on the helicopter on a part-time basis. This unique blend of expertise is what sets the Sonoma County team apart. “It’s just a really capable team,” Haas said.
The decision to recruit civilian pilots, rather than sworn officers, was largely influenced by the unit’s tragic past.
“Some of the fatal crashes we had in the late ’70s and early ’80s steered us in that direction,” Haas revealed. “We’ve really found our niche with longline, and it definitely is a skill that takes a tremendous amount of mastery.”
To become a pilot or TFO with the unit, the bar is set high. Pilots must have at least 2,000 hours of total turbine time, with significant experience in longline operations and night flying. TFOs, on the other hand, must be seasoned deputy sheriffs who have gone “above and beyond” in their careers, with specialized training and experience.
Dedication to excellence
The unit’s training program is equally rigorous, with crews conducting daily training evolutions to maintain proficiency and currency.
“The expectation is that the crews that are on every day are out training,” Haas said. “We’re putting a line on that helicopter, and we’re either dunking our guys in the ocean, or we’re going through the canopy — it’s just keeping our guys super current.”
To track this training, the unit developed its own custom flight log and training tracking program. This includes a spreadsheet and column graph for each crew member, indicating the last time they did training and whether they’re approaching out-of-currency.
“It’s important because there is a part-time nature to the unit, especially with our paramedics, so it’s easy to fall through the cracks,” Haas said.
This dedication to training and readiness is evident in the unit’s impressive statistics. The team responds to around 1,000 calls per year, logging approximately 500 flight hours annually. And with the advanced technology on board the Bell 407GXP, they’re able to tackle an ever-expanding range of missions.
“We’ve really become much more of a rescue platform,” Haas said. “With the 407, we have the ability to do longline rescues, medevac, and even firefighting support.”
The helicopter’s cutting-edge systems, including the Shotover mission mapping system and the L3Harris MX10 camera, have been game-changers.
“The camera technology, combined with the Shotover system, is such an efficient tool,” Haas said. “It just makes us a really efficient platform, which I really appreciate.”
Collaborative success
But the unit’s success isn’t just about the hardware — it’s also about the strong partnerships it has forged with other agencies, particularly the California Highway Patrol (CHP). These partnerships amplify the unit’s impact and ensure seamless operations.
“There’s a lot of times where we will do a rescue and then instantly transfer them to CHP to do the medevac,” Haas said. “It has nothing to do with the glory of doing anything. It’s what is the most seamless transition for that patient to get to a higher level of care.”
It’s this unwavering commitment to excellence and public service that defines the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office Aviation Unit. Whether they’re plucking stranded hikers from treacherous cliffs or providing critical support during raging wildfires, this elite team is always ready to answer the call.
“We’re not just flying orbits,” Haas said. “There’s a method to the madness, and we take it very seriously. At the end of the day, it’s about saving lives and keeping our community safe.”
And for Haas and his crew, that’s what it’s all about. As they continue to push the boundaries of what’s possible in airborne rescue and law enforcement, the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office Aviation Unit remains a shining example of what can be achieved when passion, skill, and teamwork come together in the sky.