When the calls went out from Grandfather Mountain that an injured hiker needed to be medically evacuated from the area on May 26 and June 5, those calls went out to the North Carolina Helo-Aquatic Rescue Team in Salisbury.
Within the next 90 minutes of the first notification of a potential rescue, the N.C. HART team had mustered, taken off from Salisbury, flown to Charlotte to pick up civilian rescue technicians and made its way to Grandfather Mountain. Soon after, in both cases, the hiker was brought down to MacRae Meadows in the helicopter and taken to a local medical facility.
On June 5, the lead pilot was N.C. National Guard Chief Warrant Officer 4 Brandon King, stationed in Salisbury. King’s co-pilot was N.C. National Guard CWO3 Andy Whitten.