Sheriff’s Helicopter Plucks Injured Hiker From Steep California Ravine

A sheriff’s helicopter crew lifted an injured hiker out of a steep ravine off Cavedale Road, flying the patient to a waiting ambulance on a long line.

Footage released by the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office on October 14 shows the rescue largely from the helmet camera of a tactical flight officer from the helicopter Henry-1. According to the sheriff’s office, Sonoma Valley Fire District personnel found the patient on a single-track trail about 250 feet down the ravine from the road, and the officer was lowered to the scene on the helicopter’s 200-foot long line.

“Hi, I’m Chris with the helicopter. We’re gonna lift you out of here, it’s gonna be both of us on the line,” the officer tells the hiker, whose leg is wrapped in an orange splint.

The hiker, strapped in a seated rescue harness, is then hoisted out between the officer and a firefighter and flown over the dry hillside. “You’re almost there,” the officer says in mid-air before the three are set down gently on the road beside a fire engine and an ambulance.