Ralph Pilots Helicopter to Save Boy Scout Troop

This is a continuation of stories about Ralph’s flying experiences. Read previous, related posts below:

• The Sky's the Limit
• Trailing Clouds of Glory - Highlights from Ralph's Flying Experiences
• Dream's Take Flight - More Highlights from Ralph's Flying Experiences

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In the late 1960s, Ralph and Ella were now living in Long Beach, California, and Ralph was working as a salesman for Hughes Helicopters, working out of the Culver City office.

During this time, Ralph attended an International Association of the Chiefs of Police (IACP) convention in Las Vegas, Nevada. He was there representing Hughes Helicopters, specifically showcasing several police helicopters.

One day during the conference, they got a phone call from a local TV station, KLAS, and they were told that 16 boy scouts were stranded on a mountain east of Las Vegas. Would it be possible for a couple of helicopters to go out and rescue them? Off Ralph went in one helicopter, with a sheriff’s deputy in another, and a cameraman from the TV station along as well to record what came next.

What had happened was the boys started their trek on the east side of the mountain, and they were supposed to hike over the mountain and finish on the west side, but they ran into treacherous terrain along the way. Additionally, one boy had a broken leg, and it seems like another one had an injury. They were trying to slide down the rock face, and that’s when they got scared and stopped.

As Ralph flew in, he saw there was no level place to land the helicopter. The only way he could pick people up or let them off was to hook a skid on the rock ledge. Seeing a helicopter fly up one side of a mountain and hook one skid on a ledge, it could look dangerous and reckless. If it was your first time seeing it, you might think, “Oh my gosh! look at what that guy is doing!" But Ralph had done it hundreds of times on other occasions so he was very practiced. He admits that he was taking a chance but that it was marginal and not unsafe. (He also admits that he was perhaps a little cocky and a smart-aleck pilot at the time!)

Example of a Helicopter Balancing on a Skid
(Image Source)

Ralph dropped the cameraman off on the mountain, and he helped the boys in. The sheriff's deputy was in a helicopter behind him and did the same thing. They would pick up two boys at a time, drop him off further down the mountain (less than a mile away), and return and repeat until all the boys were out of harm’s way. The whole task took less than a half hour.

How did Ralph feel about being a hero that day? “It’s just one of the things you do when you're working."

This whole story has a funny ending: The TV station sent a copy of the video coverage to Hughes. Several department heads and vice presidents watched this coverage, and they see the helicopter fly in (because they had dropped the cameraman off previously). Here was the sheriff's deputy in uniform, and here was Ralph in a white shirt and tie (as he was in the middle of a meeting when they got the call). Then a VP watching this jumped up and said, “Who the [heck] is that?” Ralph was obviously not one of the sheriff's deputies, and what was a company employee doing flying like that?

Ralph’s boss responded, reassuring the Hughes leaders that this wasn’t a publicity stunt, but it was an honest to goodness rescue and they handled it the best way possible.

Ralph concludes: "It was an interesting career, a lot of fun. Wish i could do it again!"

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Source: From a phone conversation with Ralph on April 9, 2018