Helicopter 'blows' men to safety

[HOGE]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/2518687.stm

Two men who were drowning in a freezing river have been "blown to safety" by a police helicopter.
The men, aged 19 and 22, had been in the River Tyne in Newcastle for about 20 minutes.

When the North East Air Support unit arrived the men were "severely fatigued" and could not swim.

So the helicopter pilot used the down-draft of the aircraft to blow them to the river bank.

Clutching lifebelt

A Northumbria Police spokeswoman said: "The police helicopter attended, it hovered over the two men who were in the middle of the river and used the down-draught from the rotor blades to blow the men to safety at the river bank.

"Police officers on the riverbank then threw a line to the men and dragged them approximately 20 yards to safety while clutching the lines."

When the helicopter arrived on the scene at 0040 GMT on Wednesday, one man was clutching a lifebelt while another was being carried away by the current.

By the time they were plucked from the river one man was almost unconscious while the other was "severely fatigued", and without the helicopter rescue neither would have stood much chance of survival, the spokeswoman said.

The men, both from the Newcastle area, who have not been named, were taken to the city's General Hospital suffering minor injuries and later released.

Police said it was not clear how the pair came to be in the water, but said they had been crossing the river on the Swing Bridge which links Gateshead and Newcastle.

[headsethair]

Great. If I tried to save lives this way with a 44, I'd be prosecuted by the CAA! See Rule 5 debate!:mad:

[newswatcher]

Whey yer bu??er man!

[Notar fan]

There must have been absolutely no current flowing in that river for the downwash of an EC135 to blow those peolple "to safety", otherwise headsethair might as well have been there with his R44.

Sounds like a PR job to me:eek:

[Unwell_Raptor]

Watch the BBC TV news. The thermal image pictures look quite impressive, and the survivor who was interviewed is very grateful. The helo captain gives a lot of credit to the police on the quay.

Apparently the young men had been having a bit of a laugh when one of them fell in and his mate went in to get him - which he couldn't.

[Go-Around]

Well it looked like a damn good bit of flying to me.
Hovering, in what looked to be VERY close proximity to two very large and very hard looking bridges, can't be too easy I imagine.

Nice one Jim.

Rule 5
(3) Nothing in this rule shall prohibit an aircraft from flying in such a manner as is necessary for the purpose of saving life.

[Hoverman]

Notar Fan
Do you sell MD's?
I've noticed whenever there's anything favourable about EC, you try to undermine it.
:confused:

Well done to the pilot!
Is he a Rotorhead contributor?

[Notar fan]

Hoverman,
I was making the point that with a strong current in the river it would take a hell of a downwash to blow people to safety.
Amount of downwash is not a factor in to my evaluation of a helicopter.

Sorry if I seem to slam EC all the time, I don't consider myself be knowledgable enough about them to do that.

By the way, I don't sell MDs.:cool:

[ShyTorque]

Notar fan and Headsethair,

Don't let sour grapes get in the way of giving praise where it's due - helicopters (even police ones) need all the positive press they can get. :rolleyes:

Pilots flying police helicopters are exempt from the provisions of rule 5.

[Heliport]

Just seen the video footage on the news.
Superb job.

Hope you get to see it, Notar fan. ;)

[Notar fan]

I have not seen the footage, I probably won't unless its on the web. I have looked but can't find it. Anyone have a link?

Never meant it to sound like sour grapes Shy Torque.:)

[MightyGem]

I drive a 135, and I'm not that sure how much effect the downwash of any helicopter would have on the head of someone in the water with the amount of drag caused by the rest of the body.

Apart from that, an excellent effort that worked on the night.

Yes, we are exempt Rule 5 to some extent, and of course it was saving life, but if that nice man from the CAA thinks we are endangering our passengers(the bobbies) then watch out! There have been two recent rescues: a child in the sea on the South coast and a woman in the Bristol Channel, that have caused the CAA to stick their oar in.
http://www.stopstart.fsnet.co.uk/aircraft/3flypigs.gif

[ShyTorque]

Mighty Gem,

Yes, I'm aware of both of those two cases (was CP of an ASU at the time).

They might stick their oar in again on this one but I don't honestly think it would get far in a court of law. I'd like to think most of us would still stick our necks out a bit in a case like this one.

[Hoverman]

MightyGem
I don't think anyone says the downwash was blowing their heads through the water. Looking at the video you could see the water being pushed outwards towards the bank, the youths were moving with it and they weren't swimming. When they got within range, a rope was thrown from the bank and they were pulled in.
Good blowjob by the pilot whoever he was. :D

Can either of you tell us a bit more about the two rescues mentioned where the CAA got involved?

[ShyTorque]

As I have since moved on, I don't have the reports to hand any more but they were both similar cases of persons in the water. Certainly in the case of the lady, she was pulled out by a crew member who very bravely stood on a skid with the heli in a very low hover. I recall that she was found drowned at a later date. Mighty Gem can perhaps give details on the other incident.

The CAA were very quick to voice their disapproval at police aircraft being used in this manner. They put forward that the aircraft were not equipped for rescues and that the aircraft and crew were put in danger because they were not float equipped, nor were the crews trained to carry out such rescues. In the cold light of day, possibly fair points, but in a similar situation I think most pilots would make an attempt to save life - in fact it could be argued that pilots on police duties have a duty to do so.

I was once put in a similar situation in a police aircraft (thankfully not quite so urgent) and I felt VERY ill at ease about not being able to attempt a rescue because of the particular circumstances, especially in view of the fact that I previously flew SAR.

Well done to the crew! :cool:

[Tail Bloater]

Congratulations to the well organised helicopter crew and to the boys on the quay. This shows how good communications and good training culminate in a good team work and a job well done. It's an awful thing to hear that the CAA are lurking behind every hedgerow looking how best to put pilots into the dock. I suppose it must be in their Charter.

On a humourous note, perhaps the guys in the water were more terrified of being sunk by the downwash than the cold and mustered up that little extra to get themselve to safety.

Incidentally, who pays for the helicopter time on this job? An insurance company? The police? The community?

[I. M. Esperto]

http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?click_id=79&art_id=qw1038485701137B216&set_id=1

Pilot chops up waves to save drowning men

November 28 2002 at 03:03PM



London - A police pilot improvised on his helicopter training to blow two drowning men to safety using the down-draught from his rotor blades as they were drifting out to sea on the River Tyne, British newspapers reported on Thursday.

The incident occurred in the early hours of Wednesday morning, when a soldier on leave from duty in Northern Ireland jumped into the river to save a friend, who had fallen in after a drunken prank.

Police said they used thermal imaging to spot the two and conducted complex manoeuvres between cranes on building sites along the river in Newcastle.

"I used the down-draught from the helicopter to blow them towards the police officers on the shore. It is a blast of around 40 to 48 km/h and is easily powerful enough to move them through the water," Captain Jim Polwarth, 42, who has been a police pilot for fours years, said.

'The current was strong and the water was absolutely freezing'
Police on the bank threw a line to Private Anthony Wakefield, 22, and Stephen Cairns, 19, who were then dragged to safety about 20 minutes after their ordeal started.

Wakefield, of the First Coldstream Guards, said he and Cairns had spent the evening drinking and were crossing the city's Swing Bridge, when a prank went wrong.

Cairns had climbed over railings on the bridge, but as he tried to clamber back he lost his footing and fell into the water three metres below.

"I dived straight off the bridge. The current was strong and the water was absolutely freezing," he said, adding that Cairns had lost consciousness.

Polwarth said the flying techniques he used were far from standard.

"In some ways it is the opposite to the techniques you are taught. In rescues at sea we have to be very careful to get directly above the person we are rescuing because we don't want them to be moved around," he said. - Sapa-DPA

[Chuck K]

One of the things I've noticed after reading this forum for a long time before I registered is what you guys in Britain have to put up with your CAA. I used to think the FAA could be a pain in the butt sometimes, but believe me your CAA is on a different planet. It's like they they tolerate flying because they have to but get orgasmic if they can get you for some infringement. The FAA kicks your butt if you do something stupid but they aren't looking for a chance to catch you out and they want the aviation industry to survive and grow. Who supports your industry?

[Droopy]

Definitely a well done to all concerned, but weren't NEASU involved in a discussion with the CAA about 4 years ago about lowering [as opposed to dropping] a flotation device in exactly similar circumstances, as they'd had a very similar experience where they'd deliberately pulled away from such a job because of concerns that the downwash spray was drowning the casualty?

On a slightly different note, I wonder how many of us police pilots are in a union - regardless of which - because I certainly couldn't afford my own legal costs if such an event went wrong; you can be sure the employer would take a step back....

[MBJ]

I'm glad it worked out the way it did, but I wonder how much effect downwash on a head can really have. We had to be on the receiving end often enough in the Navy to know that downwash is a real pain. Icy wind and water in the face. There was almost no tendency to drift, even with a lifejacket on.

Anyway, the incident highlights the fact that Police Helicopters are not equipped to be very helpful in this sort of situation. There are insufficient real SAR machines around the country.

Is there a case for putting a rope/ rope ladder in the aircraft so that punters could to be dragged to safety? (I doubt if any force would want to see winches on their aircraft - weight, cost, training etc etc)

How many forces carry a dinghy that they could drop to survivors?

[STANDTO]

do you remember the police rescue where the observer hung out of the machine and grabbed a woman for a tow to the shore.

Bottom line, this is policing, and any bobby will tend to do what needs doing at the time and sort the 'paperwork' out later. Bottom line is, that if we stand idly by whilst someone is about to die, then we end up in more sh*t than the CAA could ever send an airmans way.

I think this highlights the real need for the capability and flying restrictions of police ASU' s to be reassessed. They are there to save live and reduce/detect crime. They should be properly resourced, equipped and allowed to fly within a non restrictive legal framework