By EMILY WATT - The Dominion Post | Thursday, 26 February 2009
The Civil Aviation Authority has told rescue helicopter pilots they risk breaking the law during some flights to Wellington Hospital and wants proof they are following the rules.
Pilots have called the rules "ridiculous" and expressed concerns about the impact on patients.
The Dominion Post last month reported that most rescue helicopters flying into Wellington are banned from landing in built-up areas unless it is a life or death emergency.
CAA wrote to operators this month saying it believed they were landing at Wellington Hospital too often. Director Steve Douglas said he doubted the flights were meeting civil aviation rules and asked operators to justify flights.
"I am concerned that these inconsistencies may have safety implications," he wrote.
Up to 80 helicopter flights land at Wellington Hospital each month. At least half are emergency flights but a large proportion of the rest are believed to be routine transfers.
Patients and operators from Palmerston North, Hastings, New Plymouth and Nelson, which all fly single-engine helicopters, are likely to be affected.
Palmerston North's Square Trust rescue helicopter has stopped flying all but emergencies into Wellington since the crackdown. Director John Funnell said this added another hour to travel time as patients had to land at the airport and be transferred by ambulance. The rules were unclear and it could be up to the courts to decide whether they could continue landing at the hospital, he said.
"One would hope that some common sense will prevail here and that they will look at the risk involved."
Mike Toogood, of the Hawke's Bay Rescue Helicopter, said most patient transfers from the region were by aircraft. Only time-critical emergencies, signed off by a doctor, flew into Wellington by helicopter.
Helilink chief pilot Alan Deal earlier said the crackdown would have a huge effect on the industry.
"We have to find places to land, like airfields for instance, and that will create a huge ambulance logistics problem."