From the Emporia Gazette Newspaper:

"LifeTeam helicopter crew members loaded a different kind of cargo into their air ambulance Saturday morning during a specialized training exercise at the Emporia Airport.

Teams from the Kansas Search and Rescue Dog Association converged on the airport to give the dogs and their handlers some practice "hot loading" into a helicopter.

Nine dogs and eight handlers took part in the training, along with LifeTeam Chief Pilot Ken Jackson and three crew members, who provided safety training before the loading practices.

It was not a simple exercise, said Vicki R. Walton, KSARDA Southern Region Deputy Director. Dogs in general are not enthusiastic about jumping into cavernous areas they cannot see. They are less inclined to jump when the deafening noise of the helicopter rotors compounds their hesitancy.

"We're trying to acclimate the dogs to helicopter transport, should we need to be taken to a scene," Walton said at the end of the training.

They began with a dry run, coaxing the dogs one at a time into the helicopter that sat quietly at the side of a runway. Most in the end either jumped or climbed into the cargo compartment.

"That's a big deal, jumping up into an unknown cavernous space," Walton said. "You don't want to overstress the dogs ... because then you turn them off for the next time."

After all of the dogs had accomplished the basic load, trainers ratcheted up the difficulty level.

"Then they fired it up and we made it with all the movement and the wind," she said.

LifeTeam under normal circumstances would not be involved in transporting the animals to a search site. The crew is accustomed to loading seriously ill people into its compartment and flying them to hospitals in the area. They were at the airport in the spirit of cooperation, to give the dogs and their handlers a bit of training that could prepare them to be flown to another area to conduct a search for a missing child or adult.

"We contacted them and asked if they'd be interested in giving some safety training and maybe do a hot load, and they were just all over that," Walton said. "LifeTeam is just wonderful about doing civic things."

KSARDA teams participated earlier this month in a search in Chase County to find an elderly Alzheimer's patient who had wandered away from her home. The woman was reported missing late in the evening and by 5 a.m. the following morning, the first team arrived on the scene to help in the search, Walton said.

"When we go out on a search we always do a buddy system," Walton said, "so we have ... people we call 'flankers' or foot searchers."

The LifeTeam also participated in the Chase County search, flying overhead to look for the missing woman, who was located later that day.

KSARDA members were hoping to prepare their dogs to work in tandem with helicopters, in case they need to be airlifted to the scene of a search.

Participants are trained and certified for their roles through their own organizations. The K9 training is rigorous to help ensure the animals and their handlers are prepared to handle foreseeable conditions.

"This was just another tool that we're putting in their toolbox," Walton said."