About this course

This 1-hour course covers foundational safety and operational considerations for working with helicopters as a SAR responder. 

This course qualifies for the NASAR Basic Aviation Safety course certificate prerequisite, and awards 1.0 EMS CE HOURS. 


Principle videography for this course was conducted on SAR missions and trainings in southwest Colorado.

Course curriculum

  • 01

    Preparation & Hazards Around The Helicopter

    • Welcome & Disclaimers

    • Preparing to work with the helicopter

    • Safe approach procedures and tail rotor hazards

    • Main rotor & skid hazards

  • 02

    Deployment: Riding in the Helicopter

    • Deploying by Helicopter

    • Older style eurocopter harness

    • Crash procedures

  • 03

    Landing Zone Operations

    • LZ selection & setup

    • LZ radio communications

  • 04

    Beyond the Basics

    • Special helicopter rescue techniques

    • Risk & resource use in helicopter operations

    • ADS-B tracking & fixed wing aviation in SAR

  • 05

    Supplemental Materials

    • Supplemental Materials: References, Case Reports and Learning Resources

    • Downloadable Reference Card

    • Interactive Activities

  • 06

    Quiz

    • Exam

What others have to say about this course:

Dan Manzano

5 star rating

“Thanks Base-Medical for this online training, your information is very relevant for SAR Teams from anywhere in the world. Greetings from New Zealand ”

“Thanks Base-Medical for this online training, your information is very relevant for SAR Teams from anywhere in the world. Greetings from New Zealand ”

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Bob Coleman

5 star rating

“I appreciate the effort put in to this. I would swap in 2 more risk type questions. Much of the simple stuff will be handled by crew, but Helo Ops are a great place to work through: should we do this or maybe not.”

“I appreciate the effort put in to this. I would swap in 2 more risk type questions. Much of the simple stuff will be handled by crew, but Helo Ops are a great place to work through: should we do this or maybe not.”

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Ivo Kolchakov

5 star rating

“Excellent”

“Excellent”

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Jim Donovan

5 star rating

“helo”

“helo”

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Bart Sherman

5 star rating

“”

Troy Paul

5 star rating

“Informative ”

“Informative ”

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Elise Lowe

5 star rating

“simple straightforward introduction”

“simple straightforward introduction”

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Sandra Studer

5 star rating

“This was an excellent course for all SAR professionals! Important, potentially life saving safety protocols are addressed in this course. I would recommend this for everyone in our field whether helicopter rescues are common or not. ”

“This was an excellent course for all SAR professionals! Important, potentially life saving safety protocols are addressed in this course. I would recommend this for everyone in our field whether helicopter rescues are common or not. ”

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Jorge Sedano

5 star rating

“Claro y conciso”

“Claro y conciso”

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Joseph Villasista

5 star rating

“All the pertinent information ”

“All the pertinent information ”

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