An Oregon Army National Guard aircrew used a new self-stabilizing hoist device in one of the first live rescues of its kind Sept. 12, helping locate and extract an injured hunter from the remote Mount Jefferson Wilderness. The device, which the crew calls the Vita, stabilizes a rescue litter during hoist operations without requiring a ground medic or tagline, letting crews reach terrain previously out of range. The mission marked one of the technology's first operational successes following more than a year of testing by Oregon Guard flight medics.