A call comes out that a person has fallen off a cliff and your rope rescue team has been requested to respond. As you start driving towards the rescue site with your team you receive more information about the incident via the radio. This includes the information that a helicopter rescue team is also on the way.

A helicopter is definitely a huge advantage when it comes to conducting a rescue in remote areas but having a ground team making their way to the rescue site at the same time is always a good idea. The helicopter team may need help on the ground with the patient.
The helicopter may have been able to winch-in some team members to help the patient but the patient may not be able to be winched out, and so a rope rescue team is required to use their skills to raise or lower the patient to a location that is safer and makes winching the patient possible.

A rope rescue team may be needed to conduct the rescue because the weather prevents the helicopter from flying to the rescue site, or the helicopter may be unavailable as it may already be tasked to a different patient at another location.

Whether the rope rescue team is conducting the rescue or assisting a helicopter rescue team, there is a good chance that they may have to work with the helicopter team especially in remote areas. Some mountain rescue teams are lucky enough to have their own helicopter as part of their rescue assets while some teams work separate to a helicopter team and are not as familiar when it comes to working around a helicopter.
Any rope rescue team that responds to remote areas should have some familiarisation with the helicopter rescue teams of the same area. This does not mean that they need to be trained and certified as a crew member, but how to work from the ground.

Ropes are obviously a required piece of equipment for a rope rescue team and how these ropes behave around a helicopter needs to be considered particularly for safety reasons. The rotor wash from the helicopter can blow the rope around which can cause the rope to end up in the path of the of the spinning rotor blades, this will not only damage the rope itself, but can also cause damage to the rotors and cause problems for the helicopter which can be dangerous. Rotor wash can also cause things such as branches to fall onto the rope damaging it.

Obviously, the ropes should be secured before the helicopter arrives on scene but at the same time these ropes may be needed to keep people safe. The patient could have been involved in a climbing accident where they have not fallen all the way down the mountain so a safety system needs to be rigged by the rope rescue team to prevent the patient or anyone else from falling further down the mountain, and this rigging needs to remain in use while the helicopter hovers above and conducts a winch operation.
If a rope rescue team does not have a rescue helicopter as part of the team’s assets, the best thing they can do is talk to the helicopter rescue team that respond to the same areas. This team may have different radios or use different radio channels, they may have protocols in place that the rope rescue team is not familiar with such as restrictions on radio chatter during winching.

The helicopter team should also talk to the rope rescue team to understand how the rope rescue systems are rigged and what protocols are in place for the rope rescue team when operating near a cliff. Knowing how a rope rescue team organises and rigs their safety systems when on a cliff could be useful for a helicopter team to help make operations run smoothly.
Having a set procedure in place which coordinates how the patient is transferred to the helicopter crew from the rope rescue team can allow a safe and smooth transfer. This allows the patient to be taken off the rope rescue system and moved onto the winch hook whilst still maintaining a high level of safety for the patient, as well as the safety of the helicopter itself and all rescue personnel.

When a patient is attached to rope rescue system and attached to the winch hook at the same time this can be dangerous for the helicopter because it is basically tying the helicopter to the cliff face. The rope rescue team and the helicopter team need to work together to make sure that this does not happen but also keep everyone safe.

Having different response capabilities gives more options to a rescue operation, and in the end this will achieve the main goal of everyone involved which is bringing everyone home.