I'll tread carefully.
A few years ago a friend of mine was killed south of Kulgera in a helicopter crash. Whilst I'm not critical of the efforts expended by those in AUSSAR, I found that like in most situations, depsite our best efforts chaos is the initial overriding force.
Unfortunately in a SAR environment this can mean the difference, which was not relevant in this case. Nonetheless assets were bought to bear and a search undertaken. Initially we just got out there and flew. By the next morning GPS lat and londs were available to more accuratelty search the allocated grids. It took nearly three days to find the wreck. It was on track, burned out and it appeared the crew did not survive the impact.
It taught me something very important. Pilots in remote areas cant rely on ELT's in the aircraft (it didnt go off) and must plan on susrviving for at least a couple of days. In trying to put together something positive from my little loss, I built a survival kit,
This thing goes in the plane with my Nav bag headsets and lunch box!
By the way Ive been here in the middle for five years, never heard of training for SAR work through any operator!
