During the afternoon of Tuesday, August 15, 2023 a medical flight crew from the Tennessee Army National Guard performed an emergency air evacuation mission for a hiker suffering a severe illness in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The hiker was in a remote area of the park, roughly 1.5 miles west of Clingmans Dome. Tennessee National Guardsmen assigned to the 1-230th Assault Helicopter Battalion, in Knoxville, assembled a flight crew, prepared a UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter, and departed around 2:40 p.m., from McGhee-Tyson Air National Guard Base. They arrived at the rescue site 12 minutes later. The crew quickly located the hiker and the park rangers from the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, who were rendering first aid. At approximately 3:30 p.m., the aircraft landed at UT Medical Center where medical personnel received the hiker and rushed the patient into the emergency room. The entire rescue mission took less than an hour. (Photo courtesy TN National Guard. Tennessee National Guard crew chief, Staff Sgt. Ryan McKnight, lowers the flight paramedic, Sgt. 1st Class Nolan Ogle, to a sick hiker during a rescue at the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, August 15.)
