Hi guys,
For the record, I was the pilot for this and thought I would clarify a few things. We landed about fifty metres away on the rock wall to access the situation as all we were told over the radio was that a boat was being smashed on the rocks with an elderly gentlemen on board. He was unable to be moved by local surfers and rescue jet skiers due to both the waves on the rocks and his bad hip (hip replacement and the fact he was 78 years old). Our rescue crew was able to climb over rocks onto the boat and secure him in a rescue harness on the bow whilst myself and the aircrew waited for his radio call to let us know he was ready for a winch retrieval back into the chopper then to an ambulance (he had deep lacerations on his legs as well). Anyway, whilst we were on the ground waiting for the call with blades still turning, a drone was sighted above us approximately 20 metres ahead. It continued flying around us videoing as close as ten metres from the disc. We had to wait another five minutes for it to leave and I actually filmed it above us on my personal phone. It did hinder our operational response time and we were lucky the patient was secure with our crew and we were told the boat was fairly stable on the rocks at the time. If anyone here thinks I should have risked the crew, myself and the rescue boats and jetskis in the vicinity by becoming airborne whilst it flew within ten metres of our disc, then thats their opinion. Personally, I don't want to be the test pilot hitting a drone to see what happens, regardless of size and weight. I have already had a near miss with a phantom at 100 knots that passed under the rotor disc. The drone pilot who has yet to be identified has contacted the media to let them know he has 'awesome footage' of us sitting on the wall waiting to do the rescue. I will let the authorities that are 'very interested' in chasing that one up! I also refuse to get in a slinging match with drones vs helo's so don't bother if thats what you see here. I just thought people should know a few more of the facts about this job.
Regards,
Luke O'More (duke 996)