Evan
Che Barnes: A True Hero Gone West
Lieutenant Commander Che Barnes sadly died doing what he loved most: saving people's lives and flying. He and his crew were in a C-130 Hercules when there was a mid-air collision between them and a Marine helicopter off of the San Diego coast on 10-29-09 while he was on a search and rescue mission. Che was a really great person and I'm sure we will all remember him for what he did best. Che has flown numerous rescue missions and saved many people's lives, but sadly lost his own, along with his crew and 2 Marines. The Coast Guard's motto is "Semper Paratus" which means Always Ready. The USCG Rescue Swimmers motto is "So Others May Live". All I can say is that Che risked his life proudly so others may live. I'm going to miss him.
I first met Lt. Cdr. Che Barnes in 2007 when my dad and I went to see the IAC (International Aerobatic Club) practice flying at the Tracy airport. One of the pilots was this really nice guy who said he flew for the Coast Guard. He spent a bunch of time telling me all about his plane and stuff. Then in 2008 at the Pacific Coast Dream machines car and airshow in Half Moon Bay, the Coast Guard flew in a C-130 – and Che was the pilot! Because he is a very busy guy and had to go out on many deployments, it took a while before we could hook up for an interview. I really lucked out with this interview because I got a great tour of Coast Guard Air Station Sacramento, too! Here is part of my Feb. 2009 interview.
What got you interested in flying?
"It was something that I was into when I was very young like maybe eight years old and the first time I remember I saw crop-dusters near our farm and I thought that was something else. I think it was. I remember looking in the cockpit of an Aeronca Champ that some guy built and thinking that's what I wanted to do and I really wanted to fly. Then my dad took me to a few air shows and I was hooked. Sounds familiar huh? My first airplane ride was in an airliner at about seven or eight years old and that was something else. I was really excited. I remember seeing the airplanes taxiing around from the terminal and I just wanted to get in one. That just whetted my appetite even more I think. A pilot saw me peeking into the cockpit and he said, 'Hey, want to come in and check it out?' And they showed me the cockpit and that really added to my interest! I was about your age and I could barely reach the rudder pedals. That was the first time actually flying. I think the United States were really lucky to have general aviation and actually taking flying lessons is a pretty achievable goal if that's what you wanted. I grew up on a small farm and I didn't by any means have an excess of money and I was highly interested in taking lessons and for summers I’d work for the farm for five bucks an hour and I was able to work all week. The cost of one-hour lesson was like $70 so for one week I earn about $70 and then on Saturday or Sunday I'd take a lesson. And this is when I was about 14 or 15 years old. So I ended up soloing on my 16th birthday which is quite an accomplishment. I think my instructor made sure that it happened. Looking back I was extremely lucky to have parents that supported me but it was achievable, I could make it work and make enough money to buy lessons while I was still in high school. Where else in the world can you do that?
Were your parents okay with you flying?
"Yeah, I think my mom was mystified why I was so interested in flying but they both supported me and encouraged me to follow my interests to the point where they let me solo when I was 16 years old and continue get my pilots license when I was 17. One of the reasons why I was interested in flying for the military, I'd have a little more choices about what I was going to fly and the missions I would be on. I applied to the Naval Academy, the Air Force Academy, and the Coast Guard Academy. I did get an appointment to the Coast Guard Academy. My whole goal was to fly and it was a four-year program at the Coast Guard. The Coast Guard, of course, is a maritime service so I got to get all this exposure to ships and not too much exposure to aviation but after you graduate there's a mandatory two-year tour on a ship. Mine happened to be out of Alameda, California before going to flight school. So that six years with a lot of work before I got to actually be flying. "Another thing about flying with the military is that you're an officer first and a pilot second. So you're an officer first. You've done flight school, get to your first air station, and there like, 'Welcome to Air Station Sacramento, you’re the morale officer now. 'Hey I thought I was supposed to fly!?' “Someday but now the priority is to run the air station.” The job is not full-time flying. With the Coast Guard you don't fly nearly as much as in the Air Force but you get a lot more responsibilities and neat flying opportunities. "If you fly everyday, I don't care who you are, if you do something everyday it's eventually going to start getting tiring and it turns into just a job.
So Che, please share some of your Coast Guard experiences, cool stories and adventures.
"Those night hoist cases were the hardest. There was a case where we were taking then injured crewmen off a ship and it was like was like 50 to 70 knot winds on the surface and we wanted to get out there before dark. It was a super tanker and I was like this is going to be easy it's a super tanker and it's not dark yet.” By the time we got out there I'd looked at the seas and that Super tanker was taking waves over its bow. And so this is like 50 foot seas or more just crashing over the thing and this thing looks like a little rubber ducky in a bathtub. When I saw that from 1000 feet or so coming in and I thought oh this is going be hard. One thing about the Coast Guard is you train for stuff that you will do in your career. So that day seeing that ship in those conditions and there's a guy injured on that ship, and you have to be smart about it and have to do a risk evaluation you don't want us crash your helicopter trying to save this guy and he may die anyway. But guess who's making that decision? The command is not making the decision you are. Again that is a rare thing and probably more unique to the Coast Guard then any other service.
"So there I was, I made an approach to the ship and this thing was surging through the waves 40-50 foot surges coming straight up listing left and right, port starboard and we decided to put a weight bag down and a basket down for this guy to get off the bridge wing of the ship. So we have a trail line with a weight on it and we put that thing down and he basically went straight back because the winds were so strong. And we determined that we could not get that weight bag down, the winds were just too strong. So now what? So we decided let's put the swimmer down. He's pretty heavy, weighs more than the weight bag and if we can get him down he can guide the process. And these swimmers, those guys are fearless! I mean they will do pretty much anything if you asked him to do it. They will do it and as pilot your the one who has reign them in. So he went down and the ship was just moving around a tremendous amount and it was getting darker to the point where I started to lose the horizon reference that’s so critical. I had night vision goggles too but eventually I think the swimmer said he was looking down the smokestack of the ship that's how much it was moving! We aborted that attempt into and said it was too dangerous to try to put this guy down on this little flat part of the ship. This next time we just put the basket down and we had to go 1/2 helo lengths ahead of where we wanted the basket to go down because the wind was pushing this basket back. We ended up getting it on the deck and then finally it's on the deck. Finally it's on the deck and we see the guy put his sea bag in the basket - you know - all his luggage! So I guess it was good practice because we pulled that up and then let it down to get him. So I thought it was over but then we get to do it again and this time pulled him up. I don't think he realized how difficult it was but we got him up and flew him out of there.
Che took me and my dad on a tour of Coast Guard Air Station Sacramento and it was really cool! It was great seeing Che and going on an awesome tour of Coast Guard Air Station Sacramento. The Coast Guard is a great organization and I think I may want to join them when I'm old enough - unless I become a fighter pilot.