LOUISVILLE, Tenn. - On Wednesday evening, March 25, a flight crew with the Tennessee Army National Guard's 1-230th Assault Helicopter Battalion rescued a hiker suffering a medical emergency in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park.

Shortly after 3:00 p.m., Eastern time, the Tennessee National Guard and the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency were notified of the injured hiker needing immediate medical assistance and rapid transport to a nearby hospital. The hiker was injured along the False Gap Trail in a remote area of the park southeast of Gatlinburg, near the North Carolina border.  

Once TEMA was notified of the possible mission, Tennessee National Guardsmen assigned to Task Force Smokey assembled a flight crew and readied a UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter for flight. Once the mission was approved, the aircraft departed Joint Base McGhee-Tyson at approximately 3:40 p.m., flying directly to the rescue site determined by Park Service Rangers.

In roughly 12 minutes, the aircraft arrived at the rescue site and the Tennessee National Guard flight crew, which consisted of two pilots, Chief Warrant Officer 4 Thomas McKnight and Chief Warrant Officer 2 Andre Salas, the crew chief, Sgt. Gabriel Weston, and two flight paramedics, Sgt. 1st Class Giovanni DeZuani and John Sharbel, began rescue operations.

Once the hiker and rescue crew were located, the aircraft crew chief, Weston, used the hoist to lower Sharbel, the fight paramedic, from the hovering helicopter to the hiker and rescue crew. Once Sharbel was safely on the ground, he performed a medical assessment of the hiker and readied the patient to be hoisted into the aircraft. After a few minutes of rendering aid, the hiker and flight medic were then hoisted into the Blackhawk helicopter hovering overhead. When everyone was safe on board, the aircraft flew the patient to the University of Tennessee Medical Center in Knoxville while first aid continued throughout the flight.

At approximately 4:30 p.m., the aircraft landed at the medical center where medical personnel rushed the patient into the emergency room. Once the patient was safely in the care of medical professionals, the aircraft returned to Louisville and landed just before 5:00 p.m.