Reply With QuoteIt's good they're all safe but 4 hours in the water, WHY?
It in the local paper this morning, three men where 8 miles off Facing Island when their transom and motor hit something, there was a loud noise and then the boat started sinking. They set off their epirb at abut 8pm and spent 4 hours in the water. A local boat called Bagged Out was approx 10km's away, the rescue helicopter called it for assistance. Bagged Out arrived and got the men on board.
The crew had all the safety gear, notified VMR and told their family when and where they were going. The size of the boat was not mentioned but I know the weather was pretty good at that stage.
In that time they had floated 5 km's as they clung to a esky with their life jackets on. They said they were trying not to think of sharks ...... how could you not !!!
All men are safe and well.
Well done to Bagged Out crew, rescue helicopter and VMR .... also well done to the guys who were rescued as they did everything right by the sounds of it.
Hope this doesn't put a black mark against the Hook Up competition ........
It's good they're all safe but 4 hours in the water, WHY?
I may be able to shed some light on this one, I'm the rescue paramedic that was on the chopper who spotted the guys & epirb in the water and communicated with baggedout and vmr to coordinate their rescue down on the water. Beacon detected at at approx 2020hrs by ausar, rescue helicopter in bundy notified and airborne at 2040hrs, survivors located by chopper at 2128hrs, direct flight in line to initial satelite gps mark from bundy showed they had drifted nearly 5 kms from initial detection site, we picked up the epirb signal on the chopper homer at turkey beach area and flew directly to the guys from some 25 miles away still, we are unable to winch at night or drop life rafts into the darkness, so assistance from bagged out was undertaken, bagged out was directed to location by helicopter crew and onscene at survivors at 2155hrs. Total time from initial beacon detection to onboard bagged out was approx 1hr 35 minutes, flight time from bundy to scene was 48 minutes, then 27minutes to direct rescue vessel to guys in the ocean. that is one of the best rescue times we have done in my 12yrs on the chopper. The time of 4hours in the water, may have been to the alledged inability of the guys not being able to activate their epirb correctly. This Was stated to me by the vmr controller who had spoken with the 3 guys, that it took over an hours for them to work out how to activate it instead of putting it in test mode. Luckiest guys around, I've been to many many with worse outcomes than this one, some one was watching over them, and that was not only us in the chopper above them either! cheers Kev.
Originally Posted by Fed
I have a sneaking suspicion that this is more or less the norm even if everything goes perfectly they will still make sure every I is dotted before launching the chopper just incase they waste some money, have voiced this here before.
Even the new system has not inspired me in the past as the authorities let it down.
As a result I believe the commercial system to be a safer bet for any individual...you will be able to get family to ring up the authorities with their exact destination, with that logged they would be forced to launch the chopper even hours early as the timeline (cat) would be out of the bag and all of a sudden in the interest of potentially saving their own necks.
Thats fantastic feedback Kev. Ive always wondered how the systems worked and how long things take, since I fish in Hervey Bay. I had a chat with HB Water Police, who assured me that if I ever setoff an epirb at night, that bundy chopper would be over me pretty quickly. Thanks for all your dedicated work, we fishos rely on you guys.
Water cops did tell me the first thing epirb monitor man will do, is ring you guys, then second, he will ring my wife and say 'the alarm went off, is he really out fishing, or are there kids playing in the boat?' Nice to see they rule out false alarms quickly too, so guys, make sure your registration of epribs is up to date if you move house.
I know the chopper pilot on the gold coast, and he also confirms he has a response time of 20 mins to be airborne. I helped him move house to be closer to work.
great stuff, and awesome response time. If Im ever drifting clinging to an esky, its reassuring to know roughly how long the response time is.
Why no winching at night? Dont you have a spotlight?
Andrew
Fishing- It's only an addiction if you're trying to quit.
Andrew, We have an autopilot computer and night sun spot light onboard which help keep the chopper at a constant altitude and shows some reference to the surface below us, but no emergency service helicopters in our our area are permitted under the Civil aviation safety authority (casa) laws to winch or deploy objects such as rafts at night. Water surface level can be misconcived at night time, and most times the spot light will give a white out effect due to sea mist aswell. If it was daylight, or they were stuck in the bush on land at night, we would have had the guys out of the water/location and in the chopper with in the hour, we have lowest safe minimum altitude flight heights as well to abide by and these have been put in place following the helicopter crashes up north and around Australia to keep the rescuers safe too. We were lucky we had our twin engine BK117 machine that night, as it is due for a service this Wednesday and will be replaced by the companies smaller single engine helicopter that is not permitted to fly at night, :-( if the incident occured next week, the next closest suitable helciopter would have came from Maroochydore or Brisy, as the Rocky twin engine BK is not fully equiped for night work either. As I said, all the luck fell their way that night. The strobe light on their epirb was all we could see, and we could just make out the reflective tape on the epirb and life jackets using our big spotty, that was from 1500 feet above the water deck.
Would have been torture for the guys having us circling them for half an hour without being picked up on the winch, but rules are rules, and it would be a bad bad thing if the chopper flew into the ocean trying to do an unsafe and not authorised procedure, struth it was black out there that night too, no moon!
The average time to get conformation of a 406 eprib location now is much better than the older 121.5 epirbs, that are now illegal to have in your posession, and if you can afford the extra $150 to get the new 406 one that sends out its current GPS location, I would suggest to get that style too, we found these guys easily by monitoring the 121.5 dual output frequency that the new epirbs transmit out, and the original 406 transmitted location was picked up by the satelite and was within a couple of kms of the confirmed initial location. Brilliant pieces of gear the 406 epirb, you just need to know how to use them correctly, and give the instructions on how and when to turn them on to every person that steps foot onboard your boat, day or night. Don't turn off your epirb until you are told too by the rescuers either, as we will continually track you until we know your all 100% safe. Safe boating guys.
Last edited by marvin; 12-06-2010 at 04:07 PM. Reason: spelling fix up
Theres more to Search and Rescue than meets the eye Fed.................. not so easy for people to understand how it all works.
Mike
Thanks Kev. There are some good lessons in your feedback. Need to ensure everyone on board is 100% ok with how to operate the EPIRB. Years ago a guy I know went overboard in a Hobart race. He was 6+hrs before he found in a real needle in a haystack situation. If he had a personal GPS or a strobe on, he would have been out in an hour or two.
Steve
"As a result I believe the commercial system to be a safer bet for any individual...'
1. Which "commercial" system would you be referring?
2. If it is what I beleive you might be indicating you are totally out of line with such a recommendation.
Thanks Marvin you've restored a bit of faith in me.Total time from initial beacon detection to onboard bagged out was approx 1hr 35 minutes, flight time from bundy to scene was 48 minutes, then 27minutes to direct rescue vessel to guys in the ocean. that is one of the best rescue times we have done in my 12yrs on the chopper.
1 hr 35 mins is a lot better than 4 hrs.
I get why they can't winch at night, but don't understand why a raft could not be dropped, otherwise don't really see the reason to go out there in the first instance? Or am I'm missing something obvious?
I can understand a pilot not taking on seas like the the Sydney to Hobart, but if the pilot and crew are in conditions that they can handle, then shouldn't it be up to the pilot and crew to make the call? Don't take what i'm saying out of context, as there is no way i support a member of any rescue organisation putting there life in danger,but if able and within abilities, then why not help.I'd hate to be in the water with sharks and the like to see a helicopter do nothing more than being a locator.
not being able to operate an epirb might be something that needs some after thought. it`s all good having plenty of safety gear but if you don`t know how to use it it`s a bit like an ashtray on a motorbike....... useless.
Has anyone tried to put on one of those cheap yellow with the blue trim PFD`s while at home on solid ground....... give it a go then think how hard it would be to get one on under crap conditions. well done to the rescue folk to a job well done.
Andrew
I spoke to the water police today (while they put the breatherlizer on my mate) and they said they were in the water for over an hour taking it in turn holding the toggle switch over in test mode on the epirb before they realised they had it wrong.
They also said that it was an 1989 model boat which probably had a rotten transom by looking at the damage and the way it come apart.
Still not sure how big the boat was but they were heading to Masthead according to the water police.
All was quoted by the water police today not me.
Does anyone know what they hit? is it still out there floating?
marvin, not only are you guys unsung hero's and pillars of the community but you guys are legends mate. that is just unbelievable feedback man
many thanks rod
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