Search for missing helicopter finally gets off ground
04 January 2004
The weather in Fiordland finally cleared enough this afternoon to allow an aerial search for a helicopter, missing since yesterday morning.
Rescue efforts in the rugged terrain between Te Anau and Milford have been hampered by low cloud and strong wind, but spokesman for the National Search and Rescue Co-ordination Centre, Paul Harrison, said an aircraft was able to get off the ground shortly after 3pm today.
They were continuing to search, weather permitting, until just before dark tonight and would begin again at first light tomorrow.
The pilot and his female passenger, both thought to be aged in their 20s, took off in their four-seater Hughes 369HS from Howden Hut on the Routeburn Track, west of Queenstown, yesterday morning about 7.50am.
The weather was poor in the area at the time, but the pilot managed to climb the private helicopter to about 2600m (8500ft) and headed, in cloud, towards Milford.
About 9.50am, the pilot spoke to an air traffic advisor at Milford advising that he was about 12km from the airfield, but was still in cloud and asked for advice on how to get to the airfield safely.
There was no further communication from the helicopter and no search and rescue beacon signal was activated.
Mr Harrison said rescuers had been able to do little until this afternoon.
"The search aircraft have finally been able to get airborne and do some searching some areas of interest. . . The weather up until now has been pretty bad," he said.
"We've got quite a big area, 500sqkm, to have a look at and it's pretty rugged terrain. They are really only getting to have a look at it now."
The search area was a rough triangle from where the Homer Tunnel Rd turns left at the top of the Hollyford Valley, across to the Milford Airfield, and from the airfield back to the Hollyford Track area of the valley.
Six helicopter search teams flew at a low level through the Hollyford Valley to a position at the Hidden Falls Hut yesterday and were to remain there until weather conditions allowed them to take up the search.
While the pilot had said he was only about 12km from Milford, Mr Harrison said the search area was mountainous and covered in dense bush.
"The trouble is with that terrain, you could be half a kilometre from Milford and not be able to be seen," he said.
The pilot had not filed a flight plan or requested a search and rescue watch from the Airways communication system.
At one stage rescuers thought the pilot's cellphone might be able to narrow the search area. Cellphones search for cell tower sites to find the closest or best reception and it was thought the pilot's phone may still be switched on, showing which cell site area it was in.
However, the theory did not pan out.
"They got a Telecom engineer up there this morning and found that unfortunately it was the other way around, it was the cell sites trying to access the phone to tell it, it had messages waiting," Mr Harrison said.
Cellphones were often used for communication by those in helicopters and light aircraft, but could not be used in commercial and passenger aircraft.
Mr Harrison said he could not release the names of the man and woman and did not know what their relationship was.
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So disappointing, re the phone.