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French Gendarmerie describe recovery operation following Germanwings crash

By Vertical Mag | April 2, 2015

Estimated reading time 10 minutes, 51 seconds.

On March 24, Germanwings flight 9525 crashed in the French Alps, near the Tête du Travers summit, killing all 150 people on board. Up to 17 helicopters worked at the scene as recovery work began. 
When Lieutenant Colonel Laurent Le Goff first flew over the remote part of the French Alps into which the Germanwings Airbus A320 had crashed just a few hours earlier, he noticed something odd. “Where is the plane’s wreckage?” he asked his Gendarmerie colleagues. There was no evidence of an impact below them, and while there was a scattering of debris, none of it was of a significant size. The aircraft — which had been en route from Barcelona, Spain, to Dusseldorf, Germany, with 144 passengers and six crew — was simply pulverized as it hit the mountain at an estimated 430 mph (700 km/h).
The first helicopter on site had flown from the Gendarmerie air base at nearby Digne after the order came in from France’s military air control center in Lyon. It received the call on March 24 at 10:55 a.m. (local time), took off at 11:00, and found the remains of the plane at 11:07.
As more resources arrived in the region, Le Goff, chief of staff of the Forces aériennes de la Gendarmerie Nationale (the Gendarmerie air force), worked to coordinate helicopter missions to the almost-inaccessible crash site, which was below the Tête du Travers summit, at around 5,000 feet. The helicopters involved in the recovery operation were based at a small airfield in Seyne-les-Alpes, southeast France, which is usually a base for gliders.
In total, there were up to 17 helicopters on the airfield on the day of the crash. Among them were two Airbus Helicopters EC145s from the Sécurité Civile emergency preparedness organization, an Airbus Helicopters SA330 Puma from the French Army, an Airbus Helicopters AS532 Cougar from the French Air Force, and a commercial emergency medical services helicopter, which had all been called in the hope that survivors might be found. Such hopes quickly vanished.
The Gendarmerie had seven helicopters participating in the recovery operation, which arrived from various bases around the country. In addition to the Digne-based EC145 that discovered the wreckage, another three EC145s arrived from Briançon (in southeastern France), where they had been conducting mountain training. Another one came from Lyon (east-central France). The last EC145 came from Paris, bringing personnel and DNA identification kits. Finally, one Airbus Helicopters EC135 came from Hyères (also in southeastern France).
From Wednesday, March 25, there were only four helicopters, all Gendarmerie-operated, remaining on site — three EC145s and one EC135.
In addition to seven Gendarmerie helicopters, a French Army SA 300 Puma and French Air Force AS532 Cougar were based at a small airfield in Seyne-les-Alpes, from where the recovery operation was coordinated.
The EC145s were in charge of hoisting investigators to and from the crash site, in addition to carrying out the remains of the A320’s passengers and crew; the personnel working on the crash site were almost entirely dedicated to collecting human remains. The only debris from the aircraft itself that was considered for recovery were the cockpit voice recorder (which was found two days after the crash) and the flight data recorder (for which the investigators are still searching). The Gendarmerie also carried the seven agents the BEA (the French air accident investigation agency) sent on site for their safety investigation.
The EC135, equipped with a Wescam camera, had a reconnaissance and information-gathering role (such as transmitting images to the Ministry of the Interior in Paris). LeGoff said the aircraft also had an important role to play when the heads of state — from France, Spain and Germany — came to visit the site, as it served to secure the convoy. Finally, the EC135 carried the photographers and cameramen of the Ministry of the Interior’s communications team.
A Challenging Environment

The surroundings of the crash site were so rocky and steep that the EC145s could not land or even lay a skid on the ground to embark or disembark passengers; therefore, all operations involved hoisting. Hoists were used at a height of 50 to 60 meters (160 to 200 feet), and took place close to the investigation scene, but not directly above it. The idea was to avoid having the aircraft’s downwash dispersing or contaminating evidence.
With the crash site spread over 400 meters (1,300 feet) in height, two working areas were defined — a higher area and a lower area. The Mariaud pass was used as a base camp to regroup staff and litters to be hoisted back. Although the use of litters were not strictly necessary, their use was considered appropriate because they were carrying a human load.
Airbus president and CEO Fabrice Brégier arrives at Seyne-les-Alpes, France. 

A technical briefing took place every day early in the morning so that operations could start right after sunrise. The end of the working day was at about 5:30 p.m., when personnel were hoisted back to Seyne-les-Alpes. As most investigators were not used to a mountainous environment and were not familiar with hoisting, they worked in pairs with specialist gendarmes who regularly rescue skiers and climbers.
The main difficulty was the geographic environment, which included steep glens and ridges. Atmospheric conditions were tough, too, with strong winds (up to 100 km/h) and turbulence, which occasionally caused flights to be suspended. Even the lighting conditions were challenging — at certain times of the day, there were stark contrasts between sun and shade. 
“Mountain flying techniques are complex and an additional dimension, this time, was the massive number of hoisting operations we conducted,” Le Goff said. The top priority was the safety of all personnel, especially as there were, unfortunately, no crash survivors to rescue.
The aircraft crews consisted of one pilot and one on-board technician, who was in charge of navigation assistance (such as watching traffic and obstacle avoidance), hoisting, and some maintenance on the ground. For safety reasons, a decision was made to fly with a light payload. Therefore, the number of passengers was limited to four — two pairs of investigators and mountain specialists. The quantity of fuel was also limited, but two small fuel trucks were available nearby thanks to the interrupted mountain flight training session in Briançon. Each could carry 2,000 liters (528 U.S. gallons), which made on-site refueling easier. Over the first five days of the recovery operation, 10,000 liters (2,642 U.S. gallons) of fuel was consumed.
As for maintenance, each on-board technician was taking care of his hoist, which required servicing every 100 cycles.
The crash site was so steep and rocky that the only way in and out was by helicopter hoist, which was conducted by Gendarmerie EC145s. 

There were 11 pilots and 11 technicians involved in the operation. As they were military staff, there was no flight time limitation, and each helicopter flew four or five hours each day. The flight time to the crash site was just four minutes, which gives an idea of the number of return flights the aircraft completed each day.
Coordination of the aircraft involved in the mission was mainly about safety and avoiding traffic collisions. All helicopters were therefore required to depart and approach following a virtual line between two villages — Seyne-les-Alpes and Vernet. Depending on the wind conditions, they had to keep the virtual line on their left-hand or right-hand side, Le Goff explained. All helicopters working on site were asked to use the so-called mountain radio-frequency, 130.00 MHz.
The Gendarmerie used all its skills at unprecedented scale, and Le Goff therefore expects the experience to provide useful feedback for the organization’s future operations.
Since Sunday, March 29, there have been just two EC145s operating on the crash site, flying in from their respective bases in Digne and Briançon. They keep availability for other missions, such as responding to mountain rescue calls, and will not be involved in recovering aircraft debris.
Two German Bell UH-1D military helicopters are set to join the effort in Seyne-les-Alpes on April 3. The framework is a “technical and operational collaboration” with Germany, especially as the German minister of Interior is to visit the site on that day.

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