"The nuances are not important: you must come, find and save"

The head of the helicopter search rescue squad "Angel" - about how they are looking for missing people

During the search operations in the forest, volunteers of the Angel helicopter detachment, based under Jesistra, help to look for people - enthusiasts who are ready to go in search of the missing. “Cold” talked with the head of the Angel detachment Alexander Mikhailov about how he began to control the plane and helicopter, without studying at the Flight School, how he developed a system for searching for people in the forest from a height and saved people.

"All my bloody went to aviation"

I started flying at 33 years old. As a child, I thought that the pilots were being made in special tubes, and I was an ordinary Moscow courtyard sleep, which often end their lives in some basement or in prison. I was born in 1967, and my childhood is a gateway, non -flowing, small thefts, hooliganism.

I have no professional flight education, I wanted to go to study, but everything somehow did not work out, it was not up to it: I wanted to earn money, because it was difficult to live on my mother’s salary even in the 1970-1980s. At the age of 12, I already worked in the post office: I carried letters, for two sites they gave 30 rubles if I am not mistaken. I earned on a bicycle motor-the D-6 engine, which cost 65 rubles, and for the bicycle "Ukraine" used. He worked all winter according to my mother’s documents, so at the age of 13 I had a moped, on which I earned myself. I did not believe that I could become a pilot, but staring at the film “Only the Old Men are going into battle,” and if plasticine fell into my hands, I always sculpted two -engine aircraft.

In the early 1990s, when I worked in small positions in banks, I talked with one client-he was fond of a black and white photograph and showed me the Piter gateway. But among those photos, I saw one on which he in the cabin of the plane in the sky holds the helm. It shocked me because he had a strong squint. But he explained to me that there is a place where you can learn this, and although he cannot fly alone, with an instructor - calmly.

The next weekend after this conversation, I went with him: I took the money, arrived at the airfield in Myachkovo - an hour of flight there cost $ 100. I made 5-6 flights in circles with touching the strip and subsequent take-off-the so-called conveyor. Each circle is six minutes, in three hours it turns out 30 plantings and ups. At one of the last goals, the instructor raised his hands - that is, I myself landed the plane. When you are planting the plane for the first time, you usually do not believe that you do it yourself, so the instructor raises your hands when planting - you can not believe in words, and with peripheral vision you see that his hands are raised. It cost all this $ 300, I paid, and then returned home, where my wife and two young children were waiting for me. After that, I did not appear at the airfield for 10 years, because I didn’t want to fly just without my plane, and the plane turned out to be 100 thousand dollars. I did not have that kind of money.

After the 10 years, in the late 1990s, I changed the place of work, and was engaged in business, and hired work, already at home 10 thousand dollars, and the boys could take a little spot on the boys. And then in the magazine “At the wheel” I saw an advertisement: Skyreinger was sold, a light double, for 18 thousand dollars. Previously, there were 100 thousand, but here for 18, and even a dozen is already at home-my heart was beating. I was already an adult, I understood that 18 thousand would turn into 33, if you buy a better motor, appliances. So it happened. But I already understood: everything, I am flying. And then it went and went, as in a joke: who came to aviation with a billionaire, leaves the millionaire-all my blood then went to aviation.

I recently sold my plane because it stood idle for five years. For several years I have been flying in the “First Flight” pilot group as a leading pilot ( the only group in Russia flying on piston aircraft was created by pilots Dmitry Samokhvalov and Konstantin Borovik in 2009; group members perform various figures in the sky. - Approx. “Cold”) , I have enough of these flights, so I abandoned my plane, missed several serious serious serious serious serious ones maintenance. Of course, when selling I had to slow down the price, but I understood that if I was pulling further, then nothing good would come of it. And so there is no money, but then there is still a plane.

"We tried to find a person in the forest, having absolutely no experience."

Our detachment has no birthday. Usually, when I give lectures for beginners, I begin with the story of the search for Lisa Fomkina , whose name is the search detachment “Lisa Alert”. But in 2010, I did not read anything at all and did not see about this girl.

It turned out like this: about a year after those searches, the volunteers of the detachment called the interregional public organization of pilots and citizens of the aircraft ( AOP ): Lisa Alert did not have enough strength and opportunities, they were looking for a man in the forest, and they had to look from a height. Apparently, they simply scored in the search line “Where to get the plane” and stumbled upon AOP. I am a member of the board in this organization, and the director of the Moscow Region unit was my companion in the airfield Dmitry Shapovalov. So they called him, and he rarely flies, so he called me.

By that time, I had already just flew out of my thousand hours, and I wanted some meaningful activity, movements. I already helped the Ministry of Emergencies with the help of my aircraft to solve various problems as a volunteer and agreed to look for that person with Lisa Alert. While we were preparing, it was already found, unfortunately, to those who died. But the volunteers retained our phone and at the beginning of the winter of 2011 called again-they asked to look for a teenager autistic in the area of ​​the moonsine island. And this is next to the Moscow Ring Road, we did not fly there on airplanes then. I understand: there is a 2x2 kilometer forest, it’s hard for me to fit there on an airplane. I scratched the turnip and decided to call Misha Farikha , the soul of the helicopter movement - I myself did not come to the helicopters before. He agreed, and I flew with him an observer.

We tried to find a teenager in the forest, completely without experience: we noticed the movement, unfolded, and then it turned out that this search group was coming. In the end, we saw a man who rushes about: he saw us, stopped and ran towards us - my heart was already alert - and then he ran from us. I say to Misha: this is either a bandit who hid a corpse in the forest, or our autistic. I was so happy that I was ready to jump out of the helicopter to catch it. We informed the search group about him, said where to move, and they carefully caught him. We began to circle over this place, and here by walkie -talkie, volunteers say: "This is an autistic, but not ours." Winter, a forest in which there should not be people, for the first time in my life I find someone by helicopter-do you understand the level of emotions at that moment? And the kid they were looking for that day on the same day, he walked along the road. Probably, this is our first flight with Farikh on November 10, 2011 and you can consider the birthday of “Angels”.

Then there were still searches. They searched for a helicopter that disappeared in the Tver region, I tried to look for it on my plane, but it was useless. You will not find a white helicopter among white snow and white birches on an airplane. In such cases, a helicopter is more effective. After that, I got hooked on helicopters. Watch how cool on a helicopter: we sat on the roof of a small abandoned stop in the forest, flew up to the tree and tore off the bump from the very top.

I learned to fly on the basis of the Autz Airmarket in Bunkovo. When I realized that I needed a helicopter, I came to the leader of this center and asked if he had a helicopter for sale. It turned out that there is. My first helicopter was painted under a dragonfly, I studied on it, I liked it. “Dragonfly” this cost 10 million rubles, and I had 2 million rubles. I issued an agreement with an installment plan, with insurance, did not bargain. I made all my purchases so: there is no money, then we will take it.

"All the same, all the ends lead to Bunkovo"

Do you know that only in Russia they so often go to the forest for mushrooms? In Finland, if they will grow right on the street, no one will touch them. Why? You can buy mushrooms in the store. But in Russia differently. Therefore, nowhere is there such a large -scale experience of search volunteer operations in the mushroom season as ours. On such days, I, like the last male, come home at five in the morning, sometimes I have time to sleep before lunch, and then again in search. And a couple of months I have such a night schedule.

In the season, the crews are tortured, so the great joy that our engineer Alexei Erokhin works for us. He is also ready to fly as a volunteer as an observer, such a person is very valuable, but for us it is no less important that he remains on the ground, because when the crew gets tired, the guys forget, for example, that the helicopter has dirty windows, they are in a hurry, and he is needed as an engineer here on the base, to wipe the glass, check the tank, see if everything is fastened, and so on.

I don’t remember how many times I flew in search - after 100 successful flights I already stopped counting. Sometimes you understand that if you don’t take a person now, then that's it. There was a case: November, grandmothers go to collect ice cream cranberries in the swamp after the first snow. One granny was lost, got through to the Ministry of Emergencies, the rescuers arrived, but they go three kilometers along the swamp at night to their grandmother. And she turned her leg and stands ankle in the water with a zero degree. I tell her on the phone: "Find the pens, sit somewhere." And she: "If I sit down, then I will never get up." We found her. And I understood that if I would not pull it out of there now and we would wait until the MPC foot rescuers reach, then this is guaranteed to end in death in the hospital. They pulled her out by helicopter.

Previously, as in the family of anyone who is engaged in things similar in terms of tension, my wife was interested in whether they found or not. At some stage, this interest disappeared, but it does not interfere with my activity, she understands everything perfectly. My daughter burst into our activity, like a hurricane, when she was on maternity leave. She became a gorgeous airline. But two years passed, she left the decree and abandoned it. She has two works there, you need to earn money, family, but the next decree will come to us again. We have women coordinate and fly. There is a whole crew Kat - Katya Pak, Katya Kharitonova. I am confident in them both on exercises and in search operations. Not a single search and rescue detachment has a completely female crew, but I have, and even all Katya.

When they are looking for the missing person, they do not always call us, sometimes there is simply no sense - for example, from a height, the search is ineffective: we cannot see a person who does not move in the forest, and cannot work in bad weather conditions. Sometimes they tell us what great rescuers we are, and I think: they will say to find someone in the mountains or pull it out of the water to the sea-but I do not know how. But if a person is lost in large forests, here we have developed a plan over 10 years, we have so much experience that we know exactly what to do. We have already conducted a thousand search operations.

In the first years, for 400 hours of plaque there were 20-25 found. “Lisa Alert” caused aircraft when foot volunteers had already worked out and there was no connection with the lost, respectively, the effectiveness was low. After 2015, we began to connect to the search for those missing people with whom there is a connection. And after we were able to develop and establish a system of interaction of all services and volunteers, with a total raid of 490 hours, for example, 458 people were found. Most of these people were quickly found, because they still had a telephone or they followed the instructions of volunteers received before the phone sat down and aviation began to work.

We have access to the Lisa Alert applications, therefore, for some applications “Forest in touch” ( applications involving the search for people who have a telephone in forest areas.-Approx. “Cold” ) we can immediately pay attention if this is our zone of responsibility, let's say, Kalug. In this case, experienced attendants can say: “It will be ours,” and we can start gathering. But, of course, we are still waiting for the signal.

In total, about 80 people have an “angel” badge, that is, they took part in the search and successfully completed at least one operation. The backbone of our team is four operational attendants and ten airlines. During the day, they can do their own business, but they have daily duty, and they are the first to know that “angels” are needed in the search operation. The work begins with the fact that we receive an application from Lisa Alert, and I or the operational duty officer are dumping it into a chat on Facebook messenger, where other duty officers are sitting. It is displayed by a caplocus so that it is clearly visible, because sometimes you look at it in flight. And we use this messenger because there you can always see who the message is read.

Further, the operational duty officers of the “angels” are looking at this information, which make decisions on the search throughout the country. For example, an application in winter: a forest, a man, 80 years old, Bogorodsky district, without a phone, loss of memory, oncology, a request to evaluate the possibility of departure for a visual search. And then the discussion begins: “Oleg, you are completely fucked up, how do we find this grandfather without communication with the headlight?” There may be comments: “So -so forecast, visual search after sunset?” So our four -four -four -four -four -four -four -four -four -four -people discusses, and then I intervene and make the final decision. All unnecessary personal data are removed from the application - only one who agrees to fly, and the attendant publishes it in a common chat, where pilots from all over the country. This is necessary if none of us can fly ourselves - but even if we can fly like pilots, in any case we need to dial the crew.

Nobody receives a salary from us. Dispatching and many other posts in the Ministry of Emergencies and other rescue structures are low -paid, and in many cases older people work with low motivation. And in our headquarters there may be a professor, a doctor of sciences, and a person with two higher ones. My business is to collect them, and I can do it, and then they will understand. We will have much better brainstorming, because these are authoritative independent individuals, business leaders who are motivated and work on the task. This is our main advantage.

Someone always responds. When the peak of searches, many fly twice per day. Why not fly? When you just bought a plane or a helicopter, you will have a rally on your clock - you want to visit everywhere. In the first year, you are flying around almost the whole world, and after three years you have nowhere to fly at all, there are no new places, everything got it. And the search for people is still a meaningful activity.

The community of helicopters is small-there are one and a half to two thousands in Russia. For comparison, civil pilots in our country, taking into account airlines and private traders, are 15 thousand people. In the United States, about 800 thousand people have a certificate of civil pilot. When I compared these numbers, I could not believe my eyes. I can go and tell my friends: “We urgently need a person to find a child in Arkhangelsk,” and even if I personally don’t know him, in five minutes I will have his phone, because all the ends all the ends lead to Bunkkovo (Heliper Istra’s helicopter, on which Alexander works, is located in the village of Bunkovo, the Moscow Region. - Approx. “Cold”.). When we attract someone like that, it looks like a Yandex.Taxi: a pilot will give a plan, develop a route, give the coordinates, check so that it is not mistaken. No one is so versed in preparing flight plans as our operational duty officers. If there is a pilot, then it remains only to find an “ass with the eyes” - that is, two observers on board. They simply need to have a low weight and two pairs of eyes. But the ideal observer is a person with good vision, ready to provide first aid, for the evacuation of the victim, autonomous work in the forest, he knows the conditions of the task, and never looks at the phone.

When you participate in the search, it is important to follow the rules. We have checks for each case, templates, scripts, instructions, light encodings that we use. For example, we have no right to send coordinates with a voice message or dictate them by phone. The duty officer monitors our flight, and only he has the right to convert it into numbers, it has responsibility, and only a few proven people are allowed to do this. Otherwise, you can make a mistake. For example, there was a case when a heart attack on this soil did not have time to bring the doctor to the lost man, because someone incorrectly drove the coordinates. While figuring out, 40 minutes passed. The pilot of the “Angels” and the volunteer of “Lisa Alert” Lena boiling water was in touch with his wife, said to him from the helicopter that the rescuers were coming, and the rescuers were engaged in garbage for half an hour - we remembered this for life.

If I understand that one of the Angels did something wrong, we check the instructions and watch each stage. If something was not written clearly there, then this is a puncture that we correct. I really want it all to work after me, because I am not eternal. The volunteers-esthetes love to say that each search is special. No, all are the same, all template, the nuances are not important: you must come, find and save.

"There is no fire - a mass with a lifchik"

We sometimes do not see those we help, do not communicate with them. Мы нашли человека, посмотрели на него с высоты, сбросили аварийный комплект и улетели. Но обычно мы просим, чтобы нам потом прислали фотографию этого человека со спасателями, ведь все равно запоминаешь, как искал. До момента посадки судна в чате запрещен флуд, пишет только экипаж и авиакоординатор. В чате могут быть несколько человек, которые в теме, но писать запрещено. После посадки уже можно расслабиться, и тогда идет обсуждение полета.

С годами все только улучшается, мы сейчас летаем с новым оборудованием — например, дальнодействующим акустическим устройством LRAD (Long Range Acoustic Device). Его используют для голосовой связи между кораблями и для оповещения о чем угодно на больших расстояниях и с высокой четкостью. Выглядит это как огромный громкоговоритель, который находится прямо на борту воздушного судна. Если вы будете стоять в двух километрах и я что-то скажу, вы это услышите четко, а не как из обычного громкоговорителя.

Несколько лет назад у меня была ситуация, когда я вылетел на поиск: в лесу пропали четыре женщины, все курящие, спички или зажигалка гарантированно есть. Пролетаю над лесом медленно, делаю 2-3 круга, после этого, чтобы не тратить топливо, делаю паузу на 20 минут, рассуждая так: они поняли, что их ищут, даю им время развести костер, потому что через деревья я их не увижу, а на дым среагирую. Снова пролетаю, ничего нет. Позже оказалось, что они стояли в лесу с зажигалками и «молились, чтобы вертолетик их увидел» — вышли сами из леса на следующий день. Был бы у меня тогда LRAD, я бы сказал: «Валя, у тебя 20 минут, чтобы развести костер. Нет огня — маши лифчиком» — нужен контрастный цвет.

После завершения поисковой операции мы нередко слышим, что человек видел над собой вертолет и махал руками из-под дерева, уверенный, что его видно. But this is not so. LRAD позволяет сказать ему, как можно сделать себя заметным для поиска с воздуха. Для этого достаточно несколько раз пролететь над лесом, на повторе проигрывая заранее записанный текст-инструкцию. Колонка достаточно мощная, чтобы звук отчетливо было слышно на несколько километров. На оповещение граждан это тоже отлично работает, мы просто летаем и сообщаем жителям, кто пропал, какие приметы.

Я мечтал об этом оборудовании, но оно большого размера, и я не понимал, как нам его приладить к вертолету. В конце концов меня осенило — при установке с вертолета снимают заднюю дверь, и дальше он летит без нее.

Иногда мы находим уже погибших. Летишь и видишь белое пятно, подлетаешь ближе и понимаешь, что лежит человек, у которого до колена спущены штаны. Кажется, будто изнасилование, а это уже последняя степень переохлаждения ( при долгом переохлаждении ощущение холода сменяется чувством жара, и человек инстинктивно снимает с себя одежду. — Прим. «Холода» ).

Зрелище может быть адское, если там ребенок, например. Очень тяжело на это смотреть. Все наши действия записываются на видеорегистратор, мы все потом анализируем: где неправильно себя повели, где можно было что-то улучшить.

«В США уже выросло пять поколений добровольцев, у людей нормальная гражданская позиция»

Я уже несколько лет занимался поисковой деятельностью, когда узнал про американский гражданский авиапатруль. В конце 1930-х годов Германия закрыла свое воздушное пространство для частников, все самолеты забрали на нужды армии, началась Вторая мировая война, и американцы тоже решили своих частников закрыть — мало ли, будут шпионы летать и все докладывать Германии или Японии. На частных самолетах у них тогда летали летчики на пенсии, которые помогали удобрять землю, делали почтовые перевозки или просто цирк по пригородам устраивали — что еще можно делать на маленьком самолетике? Аэроклубы у них уже работали. А тут говорят: стоп, война. И тогда один председатель аэроклуба, который по совместительству был мэром Нью-Йорка и входил в правительство, предложил создать гражданский авиапатруль, который будет охранять и патрулировать побережье Атлантики.

Я когда об этом читал , то представлял, что мне 50 лет, война, я не призывной, и вот днем я работаю где-то на заводе, а вечером заливаю 20 литров бензина в свой По-2 (советский многоцелевой биплан. — Прим. «Холода».) и лечу из Тушина в район Звенигорода, где немецкие танкисты жрут сосиски, беру коктейль Молотова и кидаю, а потом лечу обратно в Тушино и с утра иду на завод.

Во что это дальше превратилось в США? Есть самолет, на нем установлено поисковое оборудование. Если у нас троих есть американское гражданство, мы приходим, говорим, что мы летчики, кто-то учится на наблюдателя, кто-то на старшего в поисковой группе (обучение проводится внутри самого Гражданского патруля, более опытные летчики обучают новобранцев. — Прим. «Холода»). Дальше мы разбегаемся по нашим ежедневным делам: вы писать статьи, фотографировать, я — торговать автозапчастями. Но если где-то поиск, никакой работодатель не может нас задерживать при ЧС, потому что фактически мы внутренняя полувоенная авиация. Я говорю, что готов дежурить по понедельникам, кто-то — каждый день, кто-то каждую вторую среду, например. Мы берем себе дни, в которые знаем, что мы можем ответить на вызов.

Самолет купило государство, он стоит на балансе ВВС, когда ему нужен ремонт — в ВВС, когда ему нужно топливо — тоже за счет ВВС. А мы просто на нем работаем, абсолютно бесплатно. Мы приезжаем выполнять миссии: поисковые, противопожарные, патрульные. Мы можем быть военным пилотами, гражданскими, частными. Мы прошли тест, научились работать с поисковым оборудованием, включать геолокацию, радары — мы готовый экипаж, и правительство нас не содержит, а только обслуживает технику. В США уже выросло пять поколений добровольцев, у людей нормальная гражданская позиция. Из нас, к сожалению, самостоятельность и инициативность выбивалась много лет каленым железом, поэтому мы имеем то, что имеем.

«А почему вы бабушку с корзинкой так не ищете?»

У нас в последние годы работать все тяжелее. Вы же понимаете, что бизнесу стало не очень? У меня сейчас огромные проблемы с финансированием поисковых полетов. Я уже два года почти не летаю для себя, в отпуск, например. «Ангелам» давно нужен спонсор, потому что все стоит адских денег. Идеальная картина мира для нас сейчас — найти спонсора в виде корпорации или физического лица. Никакой государственной помощи не надо. Если она будет, то будет страшно. Боюсь, как с режиссером Кириллом Серебренниковым — сначала тебе выделяют деньги, а потом судят за растрату средств.

Я знаю, сколько нужно денег на финансирование вертолета на протяжении 12 лет — это срок его службы до капитального ремонта, и я бы мог сказать конкретные цифры, если появится спонсор. Хороший вертолет стоит миллион долларов, и примерно 12 миллионов рублей нужно на 12 лет для его поддержания.

На вертолеты нельзя жалеть деньги, ведь, остановись двигатель, ты больше ничего не сделаешь. На самолете можно планировать аварийную посадку, тут — нет. У нас нет системы защиты от обледенения, нет второго двигателя. С ресурсами вертолета нужно быть очень осторожным: если написано, что деталь работает 2 тысячи часов, значит, спустя 2 тысячи часов ты ее выбрасываешь и ставишь новую.

Сейчас у нас есть соглашения со всеми подразделениями МЧС, они знают наших дежурных. Мы — специальный инструмент в руках поисковой организации «Лиза Алерт», нам нельзя позвонить напрямую и попросить поискать вашего знакомого — мы вас направим на дежурный телефон «Лизы Алерт».

Я как-то подумал: у меня же много знакомых летчиков, а что они просто так летают? Это, как у Аркадия Райкина : «Балерину видали? Она вертится, аж в глазах рябит. Привяжи к ноге динаму, пусть она ток дает в недоразвитые районы». И вот мы сделали приложение для пилотов «Ангел.камера»: скачиваешь его, видишь пожар, фотографируешь, и там сразу вбиваются координаты места. Дальше наши дежурные эту информацию обрабатывают и отправляют в МЧС, в ближайший пункт. Это именно для пилотов, потому что они раньше других могут увидеть зарождающийся пожар, потому что если ты на машине едешь и наблюдаешь пожар, то можешь сам набрать 112. Летчики летят по своим делам и присылают фоточки. Мы привязали к балерине динамо-машину, она стала охранять страну.