AWARDED DFC: 1
CONFLICT/SPACE FLIGHT/EVENT:  -
MODEL:  -

Citation:  1.) The President of the United States takes great pleasure in presenting the Distinguished Flying Cross to Lieutenant Commander Scott E. Langum for extraordinary achievement while participating in aerial flight as an aircraft commander aboard Coast Guard HH-60J helicopters from 28 August to 5 September 2005 during Hurricane Katrina rescue operations. Demonstrating exceptional aeronautical skill, Lieutenant Commander Langum flew in excess of 37 day and night flight hours, saving 147 lives form the flood ravaged areas devastated by Hurricane Katrina. As the first HH-60J to arrive in New Orleans at night, without the luxury of daylight reconnaissance, Lieutenant Commander Langum fearlessly navigated through an industrial complex littered with uncharted towers, narrowly clearing power lines and guy wires that extended from several 1000 foot antennae, landing on an unlit pinnacle of the levee. From this location, his crew embarked a critical patient with internal bleeding and took-off through the same hazards, evacuating the survivor to an unfamiliar hospital in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Lieutenant Commander Langum then led his crew back into the fray, this time, maneuvering in a low hover under constant exposure to grave danger, rescuing a family of three from their flooded home through a hole in their roof. Under mounting duress, Lieutenant Commander Langum adeptly calculated endurance, using all available fuel, inspiring his crew to rescue one additional family from the Ninth Ward before returning to base. On the night of 30 August, when given an incorrect position for Baptist Memorial Hospital, Lieutenant Commander Langum maneuvered at street level to locate over 90 patients who required immediate evacuation. Landing on an elevated pad that could not support the full weight of the aircraft, Lieutenant Commander Langum rescued 13 critical patients, which he transported to Lafayette, LA. Returning that night, Lieutenant Commander Langum demonstrated relentless stamina by performing 32 hoists at heights in excess of 100 feet, completing the final hoist with total failure of the aircraft's internal communications. Lieutenant Commander Langum's actions, aeronautical skill, and valor were instrumental to the rescue of 147 storm victims. His courage, judgment and devotion to duty are most heartily commended and are in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Coast Guard.