The Army - The Edge
Subject: SEC: UNCLASSIFIED:-Advice of Civil passenger movement in Army
Aircraft.
Sir,
As the authorising officer for the redeployment of Kiowa 033 from
Madang to Darwin, I would like to advise you of a no-notice SAR I conducted which involved transporting an injured male civilian from a position 80 nm north of Weipa to Weipa airport on 05 May 02.
The background to the SAR involved the aircraft transiting from Horn Island to Weipa enroute Darwin. Travelling via the authorised route, I overflew a fishing camp that had several people on the beach signalling by hand signals that there was a problem and they wished for me to land. I landed at their camp to confirm everything was ok. They advised me that one
of their members was injured and needed urgent medical attention. .
It turns out the gentleman in question had a large chicken bone stuck up his anus. Not only that but the bone was in the horizontal position. I spoke to the man and requested his personal feelings on the matter. He told me that he
was in a substantial amount of pain (as you would be) and that his fellow fisherman had attempted to remove the object with a set of needle nose pliers (for the love of god). They believed they may have ruptured his bowel in the process (how far did they go).
At this point I believed the man's condition could deteriorate and decided that he required immediate transportation to the nearest medical facility. My decision was based on several factors. Firstly, a Rescue Helo had already been requested by the group but had been denied as the chopper was on another job. Secondly, road
transport to Weipa was at least a days drive as there were no roads in the area and sitting down for that long was not advisable. To accommodate the gentleman all our equipment was left at the camp due to weight limitations and the man was flown to Weipa. Enroute to Weipa Flight Watch were advised
of the situation and an ambulance arranged to meet us at the Weipa airport. I then conducted a refuel and returned to the camp for our equipment.
The rest of the transit to Darwin was uneventful. I have included
the CO and my OC as information copies to stop the rumour mill on this one.
I believe that if the man has passed away due to this incident then he should be considered for this years Darwin Award.
For your consideration.
*. ******
CAPT
QFI
and the reply from his boss
Subject: SEC: UNCLASSIFIED:-Advice of Civil passenger
movement in Army Aircraft.
****,
Well done on using your initiative. This is the sort of decision
making I expect of aviators in the 1st Avn Regt.
Please ensure that the appropriate DACC paperwork is completed and forwarded through Regt Ops. I suggest that your narrative stands as it is, although you might like to expand on the comfort of the passenger (seated in the back on his hands to relieve pressure, I hear) and the 40 knot headwinds.
This has made my 22 years in the Army (and especially in Aviation)
worthwhile.
OCs might like to use this example as an example of good use of
initiative (on our part) and not so good on the the part of the fisherman with the needle nose pliers.
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Subject: SEC: UNCLASSIFIED:-Advice of Civil passenger
movement in Army Aircraft.
As the authorising officer I endorse all your thought processes and actions in relation to the incident. I recommend that the ASOR include a recommendation for the Corps to acquire the services of a proctologist so that you are not placed in the unenviable position of assessing rectal complications. Failing this the Avmed cse should include a component on the ever increasing problem of adventurous people investigating the pleasures of sticking things up their ass. On this occassion there 'was a line' and the pointy pliers were on the wrong side of it.
Some questions:
1. Did you inspect the injury to ensure it was serious enough to take him.
2.question 2 removed due to offensive content
3. Did you give him doxy to try and 'force' it out.
MAJ *****
Authorising Officer for 'Rear Door' tasks
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