THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, May 4, 1996 TAG: 9605040356
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JACK DORSEY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 85 lines
Although they've never formally met - they last saw each other in a tree 60 feet above the forest floor at Oceana - Tom Lassen recalls asking Lt. Ross Slavin if he was worried about having to pay for the plane.
``I've got a sense of humor and it seemed like a good time to use it,'' said Lassen, 48, a high-voltage electrician who went to Slavin's rescue April 17 in a hydraulic bucket truck.
Slavin, 31, was the pilot of the F-14 that experienced mechanical problems and crashed during a landing attempt at Oceana Naval Air Station.
Lt. Dan Kluss, 36, the radar intercept officer in the rear seat, ejected from the plane with Slavin and landed in a cleared area beyond the end of the runway.
While both men were relatively unhurt, Slavin's predicament was a little more serious until Tom ``Rambo'' Lassen came along. He picked up the nickname because of his ``can-do'' attitude on base, according to his friends.
``I was on my way back to Camp Pendleton . . . to fix a power supply for their radar and I was going to stop here for lunch,'' Lassen said Thursday.
That's when he heard two pilots say, ``He's going down!''
It was about then the electricity in that part of the base went out and Lassen heard a loud boom.
Lassen, who has been at the base 10 years and knows the power grids, figured the plane must have hit what he calls the ``H'' Circuit.
``I know where that goes in the woods,'' he said. It's an area where he bow-hunts deer when in season.
``I thought possibly the pilot could have hit the 4,160-volt circuit.''
Lassen drove to the area of the smoke and debris and met a police officer who told him the pilot was in a tree.
``I said, `The trees or the power lines?' But the officer didn't know.
``He said, `Can you go see if you can get him down?' ''
Lassen ran a quarter-mile through the woods to find Slavin hanging about 60 feet up at a 45-degree angle, with his head down.
The parachute had caught in a tall gum tree. The pilot's rescue pan, containing a raft and survival gear and connected to him by a lanyard, was wrapped around an equally tall maple.
Slavin was cradled between the two trees, rocking with each pass of a rescue helicopter's rotor wash overhead.
``He was real uncomfortable,'' Lassen said.
Lassen, who trims trees in his off-duty hours and teaches tree climbing, didn't have his climbing gear with him, so he radioed his office to send the hydraulic bucket truck.
``They wouldn't give it to me at first because they wanted it authorized by someone,'' Lassen said. ``So I said the fire chief wants it and he wants it now.''
While that may not have been the exact truth, the message got across.
The truck arrived about the time a rescue worker was trying to climb the tree. Nearly 45 minutes had elapsed since the crash.
``As I was going up in the bucket, the rescue guy fell out of the tree,'' Lassen said. ``The wind (apparently from the overhead helicopter) was buffeting the guy pretty good.''
There was no problem getting to the pilot, Lassen said.
``I asked him how he felt, if he had any broken legs or ribs and he said no, that he was just shook up from the ejection,'' Lassen said. ``I told him he wasn't going to fall anymore.''
Lassen grabbed Slavin's legs, set them on the floor of the bucket, then cut the shrouds holding the parachute.
It was about then that Lassen asked Slavin whether he was worried he'd have to pay for the plane.
They both laughed.
In another minute, they were back on the ground, safe.
Lassen accepted handshakes from everyone around, and then headed back to work. Not much has been said about it since, he said.
``I was just glad to help,'' he said. ``It was interesting. Sure made the day go faster.'' ILLUSTRATION: L. TODD SPENCER color photo
Putting his ``can-do'' attitude to the test, electrician Tom
``Rambo'' Lassen was up to the task of rescuing the tree-bound
pilot. ``It was interesting,'' he said. ``Sure made the day go
faster.''
KEYWORDS: ACCIDENT PLANE HERO RESCUE by CNB