türkçe links to original Turkish article
(Hürriyet Newspaper, 27 February 2023)
"Neither rain, nor sleet, nor dark of night..."
In the first hours of the earthquake calamity on 6 February Gendarmerie
helicopter pilots were faced with weather conditions that were absolutely
unsuitable for flying. Nevertheless, their commander gave them this
order: "We are at war! We may die trying but we're going!"
As soon as the earthquake struck the Gendarmerie General Command
ordered helicopter pilots in Ankara, Aydın, Diyarbakır and Van to head to
the earthquake zone. 45 minutes later, 10 helicopters, including Sikorsky
and MI-17 types, were ready in Ankara and the commander explained that
"the meteorology department said that visibility was near zero and, other
than in Adana, the entire earthquake zone was covered in snow and fog.
Helicopter pilots need to be able to see 3 kilometers and clouds must be at
least 300 meters above ground. Otherwise, you cannot fly. So none of our
helicopters could fly on that first day except for one in Iskenderun that
ferried some injured victims to Adana."
On the second day the weather conditions were still very bad for flying.
Nevertheless, the commander addressed the pilots as follows: "again
today Meteorology is forbidding us from flying, but this is a war and we
may die trying but we're going to save our people under the rubble."
The helicopters' motors were started immediately and all 10 helicopters
in Ankara took off but couldn't get past Aksaray and cross the Tauras
mountains. At some point, visibility went from zero to 300-400 meters,
far below the mandated 3 kilometers, but the helicopters made it to
Pozantı in Adana province. Three helicopters from Aydın reached Adana
by a roundabout route via Antalya and the sea coast.
Initially, injured people were transported from Hatay, Kahramanmaraş,
Gaziantep and Adıyaman, while rescue and health teams were ferried
back to the earthquake zone. Then people were evacuated from the
region by Gendarmerie helicopters because there weren't enough airplanes.
Helicopter pilots are only supposed to fly at night for 2.5 hours but that
night all of the pilots, including the commander, flew 5-6 hours.
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