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Seasoned Vet
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Florida Pilots 'Counseled' for Rescues
Associated Press | September 08, 2005
PENSACOLA, Fla. - Two Navy helicopter pilots were reminded of the importance of supply missions after delivering their cargo and then rescuing 110 hurricane victims in New Orleans instead of immediately returning to base, the military said Wednesday. One of the pilots was temporarily assigned to a kennel but that was not punishment, said Patrick Nichols, a civilian public affairs officer at Pensacola Naval Air Station. "They were not reprimanded," Nichols said. "They were counseled." Lt. Matt Udkow and Lt. David Shand returned to the base from their mission on Aug. 30, a day after Hurricane Katrina made landfall, Nichols said. Udkow and Shand met with Cmdr. Michael Holdener, who praised their actions but reminded them their orders were to fly water and other supplies to three destinations in Mississippi - the Stennis Space Center, Pascagoula and Gulfport - and then return to Pensacola. "The Hollywood role of this thing is search and rescue," Nichols said. "Logistics was just as important. They realize that." The two air crews picked up a Coast Guard radio call that helicopters were needed for rescues in New Orleans, said Lt. Jim Hoeft, another Navy spokesman. They were out of radio range to Pensacola, so they decided to fly their helicopters to New Orleans and join the rescue effort without permission. It took only minutes for the H-3 helicopters to fly to New Orleans, where Udkow's crew plucked people off rooftops. Shand landed his helicopter on the roof of an apartment building where more than a dozen people had been stranded. When he returned to get more, two crew members entered the building and found two blind residents and led them to the helicopter. Udkow later received permission to continue with the rescue missions when he landed to refuel in New Orleans. Both helicopters returned to Pensacola, about 200 miles east of New Orleans, by dark, as required by flight rules. Nichols said no supplies went undelivered as a result of the rescues. The pilots and Holdener were not available for interviews Wednesday, Nichols said. He said Udkow was flying and Shand was resting between missions. "We all want to be the guys who rescue people," Holdener told The New York Times. "But they were told we have other missions we have to do right now and that is not the priority." The air over New Orleans was so thick with helicopters a few days later that crews were having a hard time finding people who needed rescuing, but that was not the case when Udkow and Shand flew their rescue missions. "I would be looking at a family of two on one roof and maybe a family of six on another roof, and I would have to make a decision who to rescue," Udkow told the Times. "It wasn't easy." Nichols said Udkow was in no way being punished by being put in charge of a temporary kennel in Pensacola for pets of military personnel who had been evacuated from hurricane-stricken areas. "It's a collateral duty," Nichols said. "These guys don't just fly. They do other stuff." Copyright 2005 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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------------------------------------------------------------ Albert Einstein defined insanity as doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting different results. ------------------------------------------ 
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Seasoned Vet
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Gotta explian this one to me!!!
------------------------------------------------------------ Albert Einstein defined insanity as doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting different results. ------------------------------------------
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Hard Charger
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Bureaucratic BS is drowning the entire spirit of our Great Nation these days. It's a damm shame.
"I have the Americans with me, and they have their death ray. Surrender or die!" Gen. Abdul Rashid Dotsum. Afghan Warlord.
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Cherry
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As an ex- Naval SAR Swimmer I commend these two pilots. I understand the need, or want in this case, of the Navy however if I was on the crew and out of radio range with P-Cola I may have done the same thing. Good thing I was not in that position. The only thing I may have done differently, being in that situation, is called the nearest Naval Base (within radio contact), gotten a relay to P-Cola or requested permission to change mission type or orders. I know that is not the best military way however in the spirit of our jobs we have to adapt and make decisions based on the information we have.
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Keep the Peace and Be of Good Behavior
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| Lives were saved...the logistical mission did not suffer...and a couple officers took some initiative. I don't see the problem. However, if the Navy really is making its pilots babysit puppies at a kennel as a "collateral duty", I do see a problem with that. Training officers to fly multi million dollar aircraft for a year or two at a cost of millions of dollars to the taxpayer, I would think we could find something better for them to do than babysit a pet. In fact, in this situation, pilots should be doing one of two things when not in flight ops. 1.) eating 2.) sleeping Otherwise, they should be in the air, plucking folks off of rooftops. So...I guess that those pilots were right where they were supposed to be after all.
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Trooper
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The Navy denies the report. My .02: (1) the press got it wrong (par the course); or (2) someone in the Navy chain with his hotel OUT of his Alpha got word of this and countermanded:
Pensacola News Journal
September 8, 2005
Navy: Rescue Pilots Lauded, Reminded To Obey Orders
Paper reports Pensacola duo 'chided' for doing nonassigned work
By Nicole Lozare, Pensacola News Journal
The Navy on Wednesday denied reprimanding two Pensacola-based helicopter pilots for disobeying orders on Aug. 30 to transport supplies and instead flying to New Orleans to help with Hurricane Katrina rescue efforts.
The New York Times and other media ran stories that Lt. David Shand and Lt. Matt Udkow were "chided" for rescuing civilians when their mission that day was to transport food and water to military bases along the Gulf Coast.
According to The Times, Udkow was taken out of the base's Helicopter Support Unit flight rotation and "assigned to oversee a temporary kennel established at Pensacola to hold pets of service members evacuated from hurricane-damaged areas" as punishment.
Pensacola Naval Air Station spokesman Patrick Nichols said the pilots were not reprimanded but instead were commended for their actions, but they also were "reminded of the importance of the mission" by Navy Cmdr. Mike Holdener, who oversees all air operations at the base.
"He lauded them for helping civilians," Nichols said Wednesday. "But he felt it was necessary to remind them that the logistic mission was needed so others could perform their parts in rescue operations.
"He reminded them that the focus of the mission was to deliver water, food and medical supplies" to three destinations in Mississippi -- Stennis Space Center, Pascagoula and Gulfport -- and then return to Pensacola, Nichols said.
Nichols said Udkow's new assignment to oversee the kennel was part of his "collateral" duties -- officers in the squadron usually take on extra duties -- and that he was not taken out of the flight rotation.
"Since then, Lt. Shand and Lt. Udkow have flown eight missions in New Orleans, saved 30 people and delivered 30,000 pounds of supplies," Nichols said.
The pilots were unavailable for comment on Wednesday because "they're either flying, performing collateral duties or on crew rest," Nichols said.
Contacted at home, Shand's wife, Kerry, said she was to refer all media inquiries to the base public affairs office. A call to a telephone listing for Udkow resulted in a recording that stated the line was not accepting incoming calls.
The New York Times story was posted on the Udkow family Web site run by cousin Ben Udkow.
"Instead of being applauded as a hero, (Matt Udkow) was re-assigned to oversee a pet kennel for service members evacuated from hurricane-damaged areas," Ben Udkow wrote above the posting of the story.
In an e-mail interview, Ben Udkow wrote that he was proud of his cousin.
"I think what he did is one of many amazing stories of rescue, and that no matter what his commanding officer or the Navy says, it would be deplorable to leave people to die just because he was under orders," he wrote. Any logical and compassionate person with access to a helicopter, training, and a full crew to support him would have done the same thing."
The Times reported that the two air crews picked up a Coast Guard radio plea that any nearby helicopters were needed to transport residents trapped on their rooftops in New Orleans, where the flood waters continued to rise.
The Navy helicopters were out of radio range to Pensacola, so Shand and Udkow, who were serving as the air commanders for the mission, decided to fly the two H-3 helicopters to nearby New Orleans to help with the rescue effort. The two air crews were able to transport more than 100 residents to safety before returning to Pensacola that evening.
You can run and you can hide, but you'll only die tired !
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