‘Just another day at work’ for the 106th Rescue Wing

NEW YORK -- Tred Barta claims to be one of the “best big game fishermen in the world,” with a reputation for doing things the hard way.

His blunt talk and nonconformist style has made him a popular, if controversial, star of the television show, “The Best and Worst of Tred Barta,” and he’s teamed up with an elite Air Force pararescue unit for the show’s season premiere.

Mr. Barta used to be irritated by the sight of the aircraft from the 106th Rescue Wing, the unit close to his home in Long Island, New York. He’d often see HH-60 Pave Hawks and C-130 Hercules flying overhead before he’d set off on his fishing expeditions 100 miles off the Long Island shore.

“Down on the dock … at the marina, we’d see (them flying) and say to ourselves, ‘There they go again, burning American tax dollars.’”

But filming the show and seeing the men and women of the 106th Rescue Wing perform their job, “like it was just another day at work,” changed his mind.

The famed unit has been performing rescue missions since 1975, saving mostly fisherman and recreational boaters who found themselves in dangerous situations in the Atlantic Ocean. The 106th was at the center of the book and Hollywood movie “The Perfect Storm,” which chronicled the heroic attempt of pararescuemen to save fishermen caught in a treacherous Nor’easter. Most recently, they saved more than 160 people from their rooftops in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. In all, the unit has saved 464 people.

Mr. Barta and Mark Freedman, the show’s executive producer, thought an episode on boater safety could be entertaining and save lives if it was done right. On any given Sunday, they say, there are about 3,000 boats off the New York and New Jersey coast, and accidents are bound to happen.

Mr. Freedman said the idea for the show came from asking himself a simple question: “If my boat sank off shore, what would I do?”

“I’ve got a life raft and read all the books about safety. But would I follow the checklists in an emergency, would I panic? I had no idea what would happen if I had to abandon ship at sea,” he said.

Mr. Barta loved the idea, and they went to the 106th to ask for their help in simulating a real life emergency rescue operation at sea.

“We were completely on board in helping with this episode,” said Col. Mike Canders, the wing commander. “All too often we see boaters and fisherman ill-prepared for emergencies at sea. Many tragedies could be avoided if people would heed the advice given in this episode and have a plan.”

“What started as a possibility to pick up a guy off shore turned into an unbelievable shoot that lasted six days of actual filming,” Mr. Freedman said.

Before filming started in October, it took Mr. Freedman four months of planning with the wing to work out all of the necessary details.

Filming a television show is hard enough, but re-creating a search and rescue scenario takes careful coordination. Seven cameramen had to shoot from air and sea, all under the watchful eye of pararescuemen supervising every aspect of the shoot. The footage was all shot in high-definition, including jaw-dropping footage by one of the unit’s own pararescuemen, Master Sgt. Jules Roy, as he jumped backwards out of a C-130 to the “shipwrecked” crew below.

“This episode captures the intensity of a potential real life harrowing situation,” said Marc Fein, Outdoor Life Network’s senior vice president of programming and production. “Tred is great television – whether he is teaching us about surviving a catastrophe at sea or hunting mallards with a long bow.”

“This was a very important episode for us to make,” Mr. Barta said. “You can be the best fisherman, the best hunter out there, but if you do not plan ahead for something like this, that skill will do you no good. Situations like the one we recreate happen on a daily basis, as the brave men and women of the 106th can tell you. Your plan must be thorough and you must be able to execute it flawlessly to survive. I’m grateful to the 106th for lending their time and their resources to help us relay this very important message.

“When you’re in the raft with the ones that you love and they answer your mayday and come to your aid, it’s worth every single penny. God bless the men and women of the Air National Guard and the 106th,” Mr. Barta said.

The episode premieres on “The Best and Worst of Tred Barta” tonight on the Outdoor Life Network at 9 p.m. EST and will be rebroadcast Feb. 17 at 9 p.m.