You've made the call. The patient's condition, the distance, and the terrain all say the same thing: this person needs a helicopter. Once that decision is made and the request is on its way, your job as a rescuer changes. Patient care continues, but a second mission runs alongside it: getting an aircraft safely to the ground near your patient.
A helicopter is a powerful evacuation tool, but it is also unforgiving. Most aviation incidents in search and rescue happen close to the ground, and the landing zone (LZ) is where rescuers on foot meet a machine with spinning rotors, limited visibility, and no margin for surprises. Choosing and preparing that site well is one of the most valuable things you can do for your patient and for the flight crew coming to get them.
When a Helicopter Is the Right Call
Helicopter evacuation is typically justified when the patient's condition is time-critical, when ground evacuation would take too long or expose the patient to further harm, or when terrain makes a carryout dangerous for rescuers. It is a resource-heavy decision. Weather, daylight, altitude, and aircraft availability all affect whether a ship can even launch, so request early and have a ground-evacuation plan running in parallel until the aircraft is overhead.
What Makes a Good Landing Zone
If the requesting agency gives you specific LZ requirements, follow them. Otherwise, these field guidelines will put you in the right ballpark.
Size
Bigger is always better. A common daytime guideline is a clear area roughly 100 by 100 feet (about 30 by 30 meters), free of obstructions. Night operations usually call for a larger, well-marked site. If you have to choose between a smaller perfect site nearby and a larger site a short carry away, the larger site usually wins.
Slope
The ground should be as close to level as you can find. As a working rule, look for a slope of less than 10 degrees. Helicopters on steeper ground risk dynamic rollover, and some aircraft simply cannot land on a slope at all. If the only option is sloping ground, tell the flight crew the direction and steepness of the slope so they can plan their approach.
Surface
Firm ground beats soft ground. Rotor wash, the powerful downwash of air under the aircraft, turns loose material into a hazard. Dust, sand, snow, dry leaves, and gravel can blind the pilot at the most critical moment, and lightweight debris can be pulled up into the rotors. Walk the site and remove or secure anything that can fly: tarps, sleeping pads, clothing, trash, empty packs. Wet down dusty ground if you have water to spare, and expect snow landing to create a whiteout.
Obstacles, Especially Overhead
Survey the site in three dimensions. On the ground, look for stumps, boulders, fence posts, and holes. Above the site, look for the hazards pilots worry about most: power lines, guy wires, cables, and treetops. Wires are notoriously hard to see from the air, even for experienced crews. If there are wires anywhere near your site, report their location and direction of travel when you talk to dispatch or the aircrew.
Also consider the approach and departure paths. Helicopters prefer to land and take off into the wind, and they like a clear corridor in and out rather than dropping vertically into a tight hole. A site with tall trees or ridgelines boxing it in on all sides may be unusable even if the clearing itself looks fine.
Surveying and Marking the Site
Once you have picked your site, walk its full perimeter. Look at it the way a pilot would from 500 feet up. Note the GPS coordinates and pass them to dispatch in the format they ask for, along with a plain-language description: "Level meadow, 100 by 100 feet, bordered by pines on the north and west, power line running east to west a quarter mile south."
Mark the LZ so it is unmistakable from the air:
- Use high-contrast markers at the corners, such as bright tarps, sleeping pads, or panel markers, weighted down so rotor wash cannot move them.
- Indicate wind direction. Smoke is excellent if you can make it safely. A flag, a weighted streamer, or a rescuer standing with their back to the wind and arms out all tell the pilot what they need to know.
- At night, use strobe lights or flashlights, and never shine lights directly at the aircraft. Chemical light sticks or a simple arrangement of lights outlining the LZ works well.
- Avoid pyrotechnic flares and signal fires unless the incoming crew specifically asks for them.
Ground Crew Safety Around the Aircraft
More rescuers are hurt walking to a helicopter than doing anything else in a helicopter evacuation. Brief every person on your team before the aircraft arrives:
- Never approach the helicopter unless a crew member signals you forward. Expect to be met by a crew member who will escort the patient to the aircraft.
- Approach only from the front of the aircraft, within the pilot's line of sight, and in a crouch if the crew directs it. Never walk toward the tail. The tail rotor is nearly invisible when spinning and is lethal.
- Carry nothing above shoulder height. Secure hats, hoods, and loose gear before the aircraft lands. Eye protection is worth having; rotor wash throws debris hard.
- Keep the patient fully packaged and covered so rotor wash does not strip blankets or dressings away.
- If the LZ is on a slope, approach and leave from the downhill side only.
If There Is No Landing Zone
Sometimes the terrain simply does not offer one. Steep timber, canyons, and dense forest can make landing impossible. That does not end the conversation. Many helicopter programs can perform hoist or short-haul rescues, extracting a patient without ever touching down. In those cases your job shifts again: get the patient packaged in a way the rescue crew can work with, move to the most open area you can manage, and stay ready to move when the crew says move. If no aircraft can reach you at all, your parallel ground-evacuation plan becomes the plan.
Train for the Whole Problem
Evacuation decisions, LZ selection, radio traffic, packaging, and aircraft safety are all perishable skills. They are also exactly the kind of skills you do not want to use for the first time with a real patient waiting. Our Wilderness First Aid and Wilderness First Responder courses walk you through realistic scenarios that cover the full arc of a wilderness emergency, from first contact to handoff at the aircraft. Train the decision, train the site, and be ready when seconds count.
0 comments