Today is May 18th and on this day in 1980 Mt. St. Helens erupted with a force so powerful that it leveled tens of thousands of acres of forest and destroyed hundreds of homes, roadways and railways. 57 people lost their lives in the blast. On duty that day was a young helicopter pilot named Mike Cairns. He and many of his Washington National Guard pilots immediately flew towards the devastation and began the incredibly difficult task of finding survivors. Please listen in as he recounts those terrible days of flying in the most perilous of conditions.