Priority 1 Air Rescue marks 8 years training Coast Guard hoist operators

Priority 1 Air Rescue says it has trained more than 550 U.S. Coast Guard Flight Mechanics since 2018 through its Mesa, Arizona, hoist-operator program for MH-60 and MH-65 helicopters. The milestone highlights how the school has become a standard pipeline for mission-ready rescue crews nationwide.

Why it matters: - Priority 1 Air Rescue's U.S. Coast Guard training pipeline is helping prepare hoist operators for real-world search-and-rescue missions across the country. - The program supports Coast Guard crews that recover survivors from vessels, open water and hard-to-reach terrain. - The training pipeline has now been extended and renewed by the Coast Guard, signaling the curriculum's staying power.

What happened: - Priority 1 Air Rescue marked the eighth year of its training partnership with the U.S. Coast Guard this month. - The company says it has trained more than 550 Flight Mechanics through its USCG "C" School since the program began in 2018. - The school serves as the Coast Guard's hoist-operator qualification pipeline for MH-60 and MH-65 helicopters. - Flight Mechanics attend a 12-day course at Priority 1 Air Rescue's Mesa, Arizona facility. - The course combines ground school, hoist procedural tower training and synthetic simulation on the company's Advanced Aircrew Mission Simulator.

The details: - Students have completed more than 130,000 individual hoist evolutions since the program began. - Trainees have logged nearly 6,000 hours of synthetic simulation training. - Each graduate completes more than 225 hoist iterations on average during the course. - The training prepares students for inland, vessel, offshore rescue swimmer and day/night rescue scenarios. - Flight Mechanics return to their units after training to operate rescue equipment during live search-and-rescue missions. - The Flight Mechanics are the non-pilot crew members who operate the aircraft's rescue hoist. - P1AR was selected for the Coast Guard program in 2018 after a competitive process. - The curriculum has since become a standardized training reference for the service. - Priority 1 Air Rescue says it has trained more than 15,000 aircrew across 40-plus countries since its founding in 1999. - The company says it has had zero accidents since inception. - Priority 1 Air Rescue also trains the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and law enforcement and SAR agencies around the world. - The company operates training centers in Mesa, Arizona, and Bordeaux, France.

Between the lines: - The scale of the training output suggests the Coast Guard is relying on a repeatable, high-volume model rather than ad hoc instruction. - Heavy use of simulation and repeated hoist iterations points to a focus on muscle memory and mission readiness before crews enter live rescue environments. - The program's continued use also reflects demand for standardized rear-crew training in a mission set where small errors can have high consequences.

What's next: - Priority 1 Air Rescue is expected to continue training Coast Guard Flight Mechanics as the service rotates new crews through the qualification pipeline. - The Mesa program will likely remain a core source of hoist-operator training for MH-60 and MH-65 missions.

The bottom line: - After eight years, Priority 1 Air Rescue has become a key Coast Guard training partner for building rescue crews that can deploy quickly and operate safely in demanding SAR missions.