"You have to have a damn good head for heights": emergency services train winch rescue from the helicopter at Walchensee

Created: 06/22/2022, 09:00

By: Felicitas Bogner

A head for heights is a prerequisite: the winch operators stand on the skid of the helicopter and control the abseiling manoeuvre.

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During a winch exercise at Lake Walchensee, the ADAC air rescue team simulated the emergency with the water rescue service.

Because water rescue by helicopter and winch is a complex and highly demanding special operation that has to be trained several times a year.

Walchensee -

bushes and branches on the surrounding trees bend to the side, leaves swirl through the air.

It hums and rattles so loudly that you can no longer understand your own words.

Passers-by stop, pull out their mobile phones and hold the cameras up in the air.

If you look just a few meters up, you can see the helicopter Christoph 26 heading for Lake Walchen.

Today, however, he did not start from his home, the roof of the Murnau accident clinic, as is usually the case, but from the meadow opposite the Walchensee water rescue station.

The helicopter makes a curve over the turquoise mountain lake and then hovers an estimated 25 meters above the body of water.

Joint special exercise by ADAC air rescue and water rescue service Walchensee

Here a man in a wetsuit is swimming and waving his arms.

It's Michael Dollriess.

The Walchenseer has been a member of the water rescue service for over 15 years.

Therefore, despite the imposing waves that the propellers cause on the lake, he remains calm and waits for a rescuer to be with him within a few seconds.

An emergency paramedic came from the helicopter to the lake using a cable winch.

Now it's very quick: He attaches Dollriess to the winch, presses his arms tightly against his body and the winch pulls both of them out of the water a little way over the surface of the water.

Christoph 26 moves towards the shore and gently lowers the men to the ground.

Training of winch operators and pilots

"If the paramedic hadn't pressed my arms down like that, I could have slipped out of him," explains Dollriess.

This isn't the first time he's been doing the exercise.

Because once or twice a year, the Walchensee water rescue service cooperates with the non-profit air rescue service of the ADAC to train the highly demanding winch rescue and also to train new pilots and winch operators, explains the spokesman for the ADAC air rescue service, Jochen Oesterle.

In addition, winch rescue is practiced with the mountain rescue service in alpine terrain.

Almost done: The paramedic got the patient out of the water.

Instructor Schellig and prospective winch operator Johannes Veit now direct the pilot from above in the direction of the shore.

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"For the job of winch operator you have to be damn free from giddiness," says Julian Weiss from ADAC and laughs.

He's standing on the ground and pointing his finger up.

"Here on the outer runner is the training manager Peter Schellig with a winch operator trainee."

In an emergency, however, only one would stand on the skid.

This time, however, it is an exercise and, for some, the final exam of their ten-week additional training course to become a winch operator.

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Cooperation of the crew is A and O in winch rescue

"The interaction of the crew members is the most demanding and important thing in winch rescue," explains Weiss.

Because: “The pilot sits on the right side of the helicopter.

However, the operator and paramedic are on the left.

"The pilot doesn't see the patient in the water and has to find the right position based on the information from the operator." Communication within the crew is therefore the be-all and end-all. "A trainee must have flown up to 150 maneuvers for practice," explains afterwards the head of operations and trainer Peter Schellig.

He heads the ADAC air rescue station in Murnau.

From here, the helicopter crew needs less than five minutes to reach Lake Walchen after the alarm has been raised.

In an emergency, every grip and every sentence has to be right.

"We train in such a way that everyone can work with everyone else in a crew," explains Schellig.

The pilot's task during the demanding flight maneuver is to let the helicopter hover as calmly as possible over the scene.

To ensure that everything runs smoothly on the ground, the lifeguards lend a hand, temporarily blocking the road and preventing onlookers from getting too close.

Johannes Veit successfully completed the maneuvers and is now a winch operator with the ADAC air rescue service.

Even as a mountain rescuer, he knows the challenges of operations in alpine terrain.

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As complex as rescue by winch is, the number of operations is constantly increasing.

"We are currently using about ten percent more winches than a few years ago," reports Oesterle when asked.

Last but not least, the flood disasters of 2021 have shown how essential this form of rescue is.

After all, the ADAC air rescue supported the rescue operations in Rhineland-Palatinate and North Rhine-Westphalia with a total of six helicopters.

By the way: Everything from the region is now also available in our regular Bad Tölz newsletter.

Even if, according to Schellig, their core task was alpine mountain rescue, there would always be water operations.

Of around 1,350 missions a year, the helicopter would fly to almost 220 water rescue operations.

In comparison: "We have mountain operations almost every day," emphasizes Schellig.

ADAC air rescue supported operations in flood areas in 2021 with six helicopters

Whether it's a mountain, a lake or a house roof: even if the winch rescue strategy always looks the same, there are enormous differences here.

"When it comes to air rescue from the water, we are dealing with a changing environment," says Schellig.

“When we are in the water with the helicopter above the patient, the wind causes waves and a different water structure (technically this is called “downwash”), and the patient’s position may also change.” It's different in alpine terrain.

More operations are carried out here using winches than in the water.

"In many cases, the lifeguard is simply faster with the boat than four to five minutes on the patient in the water." Nevertheless, there are some alarms for the air rescuers in summer.

"For example, if a person goes missing,

After ten runs there is finally a break.

"The helicopter has to fill up with kerosene," explains Weiss.

Then there are another ten maneuvers on the program.

"We trained both the co-pilots and winch operators and the trainees had their final exams," says Schellig.

One of them is Johannes Veit from Mittenwald.

The 29-year-old paramedic has been a volunteer with the mountain rescue service in Mittenwald for many years.

The challenge of doing everything correctly in the winch rescue is great.

"You should have respect for every assignment, but not fear," says Veit.

He sees it as an advantage, thanks to his many years of experience with the mountain rescue service as an operator on the skids, to "know the other side below" when he acts at the top of the winch - which, by the way, carries up to 180 kilograms.

Veit can also be proud

like his colleagues, he passed the test.

In general, the exercise with around 25 emergency services went smoothly, as Schellig summarizes with relief after two and a half hours of training.

You can find more current news from the region around Bad Tölz at Merkur.de/Bad Tölz.