Even the longest ranged helicopters are WELL short of "middle of the ocean" range. The longest top out around 600 miles, and that's straight line, not out and back, and certainly not with any loiter time in the middle.
The Navy has helicopters that can do in-flight refueling. If an aircraft carrier is close enough it might be called upon (1).
But if not, this is what they do:
the plane’s crew dropping a bundle of medical gear into the water near the ship, and then four pararescuemen from the 131st Rescue Squadron jumping out themselves. Once in the water, they swam to the Franz, boarding it and treating the fisherman.
Ya, there are way more options. A few helos can refuel in-air, but more common is refueling from ships (landing or hovering) and oil rigs. Then there are a whole bunch of helicopters on navy ships that will rescue people if asked.
There are also parachute SAR techs. They will jump out of fixed-wing aircraft with ranges of 1000s of miles. They cannot get you home, but might keep you alive. (Brave people, jumping into situations where they know rescue could be days away.)
Helos on navy ships are the drop-dead last resort because, after them, there is nobody else to call. If they go down, the next wave of help will be days away.
In 1934 the airship USS Macon could carry five Sparrowhawk biplanes, and its commander wanted to convince the navy that it was a capable search and scouting vehicle because it had so much longer flying range than any aircraft of the time, it could float over the ocean and refuel and dispatch the biplanes to spread out and cover lots of area quickly.
USS Houston was carrying President Roosevelt from Panama to Hawaii on a secret route, and the airship commander launched an unauthorised scouting mission to search for his ship, found it, and dropped a bundle of current newspapers and magazines for him.
Comments
Even the longest ranged helicopters are WELL short of "middle of the ocean" range. The longest top out around 600 miles, and that's straight line, not out and back, and certainly not with any loiter time in the middle.
The Navy has helicopters that can do in-flight refueling. If an aircraft carrier is close enough it might be called upon (1).
But if not, this is what they do:
https://taskandpurpose.com/news/air-national-guard-parachute...
(1) https://www.aero-news.net/index.cfm?do=main.textpost&id=88E4...
Ya, there are way more options. A few helos can refuel in-air, but more common is refueling from ships (landing or hovering) and oil rigs. Then there are a whole bunch of helicopters on navy ships that will rescue people if asked.
There are also parachute SAR techs. They will jump out of fixed-wing aircraft with ranges of 1000s of miles. They cannot get you home, but might keep you alive. (Brave people, jumping into situations where they know rescue could be days away.)
Helos on navy ships are the drop-dead last resort because, after them, there is nobody else to call. If they go down, the next wave of help will be days away.
In 1934 the airship USS Macon could carry five Sparrowhawk biplanes, and its commander wanted to convince the navy that it was a capable search and scouting vehicle because it had so much longer flying range than any aircraft of the time, it could float over the ocean and refuel and dispatch the biplanes to spread out and cover lots of area quickly.
USS Houston was carrying President Roosevelt from Panama to Hawaii on a secret route, and the airship commander launched an unauthorised scouting mission to search for his ship, found it, and dropped a bundle of current newspapers and magazines for him.