Well, with any combat rescue, it starts with picking the pilot/WSO up.I’m always totally amazed that pilots survive a missile hit. @Astro14 , what’s the protocol for a pilot after being shot down (and rescued)?
In this case, because it was over water, that should have been relatively simple. Vector the helicopter onto the ejection site, gain side of the pilots, put the SAR swimmer in the water, and lift them up into the helicopter.
The next step is a complete medical evaluation.
Primarily we’re looking for injuries, to make sure they’re OK. There will be blood samples and other things taken, because the subsequent step is going to be a mishap investigation, and bloodwork will be part of that investigation. They are looking for Illicit substances, alcohol, signs of fatigue, or even malnourishment, or other medical problems and things of that nature in case those factors may have contributed to this accident.
With the physicians report in hand, and a preliminary feel for what happened, it will be up to the commanding officer that squadron as to how soon that crew can fly. It may be after a somewhat traumatic event like an ejection, that the CEO determines they need a bit of a break. So they may not fly for quite a while.
In my own case, I had an M61 20mm Cannon come apart on a training mission. It threw out shrapnel that took out the left engine.
I was fine, and I landed the airplane just fine, but the airplane was damaged.
So, I had to go down to medical, and they took their 17 tubes of blood, or whatever it was, sure felt like 17 tubes, along with other samples, and a complete interview with the doctor, reviewing my medical history, sleep, and meals for the past 72 hours.
An accident investigation was convened, and the HUD videotape of my flight was taken into custody. I had to interview with the board, give my account of events. It’s not the most fun experience, it’s like standing before grand jury, only without any representation.
The preliminary material investigation on the aircraft, showed that the gun just plain failed. My videotape showed that I was within 1° of delivery/strafe parameters and 5 kn of the briefed air speed on a flight that was conducted in accordance with syllabus objectives, as well as all of our standard operating procedures.
I was flying again two or three days after the mishap.
The board took a while to publish their results, of course, but CO determined that I wasn’t at fault, and put me back on the flight schedule, pending the final determination of the board.
This event was far more traumatic for the crew than mine. They’ll follow a similar process, though, of investigation, testimony, gathering of evidence, and analysis. It’ll be up to the commanding officer to determine the psychological fitness of this crew to return to the air, as well as the doctors to determine their physiological fitness.
Without mo