Scout maps out ALERT landing zones

When 16-year-old Troop 17 Scout Hugh Ramlow was considering what service project he would undertake to achieve his Eagle rank, he had no idea that the project he’d choose could potentially help save lives.

As member of the troop that is a ministry of the Whitefish Church of the Nazarene, he must plan, develop, and give leadership to others in a service project to any religious institution, school, or community to reach Eagle rank. He must plan the work, organize the personnel needed and direct the project to its completion.

“I looked at lists of project ideas, but saw nothing that interested me,” he said. “Then Bob mentioned something about ALERT”

Family friend Bob Frasier suggested that Ramlow consider helping the pilots of the ALERT helicopter service evaluate remote landing zones. As a retired Pan Am pilot who had flown all over the world, Frasier knew firsthand the perils associated with flying in rugged, mountainous terrain.

“These [ALERT] missions are often dangerous, and this information is valuable,”  Frasier said.

Through the help of Frasier, community resident Chuck Wilhoit and Kalispell Regional Medical Center Foundation President Tagen Vine, Ramlow was introduced to Ken Justus, ALERT chief pilot.

Justus worked with Ramlow to educate him on the challenges that pilots face when flying into remote areas. Not only do they need to know safe areas to land, but prior to each flight, the pilot must identify and document the highest obstacle along the planned flight route to determine the minimum safe altitude.

While ALERT pilots currently have more than 80 landing zones programmed into their GPS, they do not have pre-planned minimum safe altitudes. When they receive a call to fly to one of these remote landing zones, they must first calculate and document the altitude, which takes up time – time that is precious to a patient in distress.

The resulting service project that Ramlow developed was twofold.

Phase one consisted of a collection of pre-planned minimum safe altitudes for all current landing zones by calculating the distance between Kalispell Regional Medical Center and each of its 80 landing zones, identifying the highest point on the route.

Phase two of the project included mapping out the current list of landing zones, identifying gaps in coverage, and physically going out on the ground with a handheld GPS to identify new landing zones to fill those gaps.

On June 21, nearly three months after their initial meeting, Ramlow presented the first phase of his project – a two-inch binder full of pre-planned MSAs, including detailed maps and charts that identified geographic profiles of each of the current routes to ALERT landing zones.

“Next, I plan to put a group of Scouts together to find new landing zones,” said Ramlow.

He plans to undertake this next phase when he returns from a two-month mission trip to Nepal.

“Hugh sure went above and beyond. The ALERT pilots really appreciate the effort and time that he put into this,” Justus said. “He is a great young man.”