Heavilift 206 missing in PNG
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Sorry to ask such a practical question at a time of special sensitivity to those connected to this incident but, I am wondering - who is covering the cost for the efforts surrounding the search for survivors?
In Africa there are places where there is a total lack of national SAR support and we often talk about operator collaboration. One year we investigated the possibility of subscribing to an insurance fund which would cover the costs involved in private SAR missions but, sadly, the operators could not agree so nothing happened.
In Africa there are places where there is a total lack of national SAR support and we often talk about operator collaboration. One year we investigated the possibility of subscribing to an insurance fund which would cover the costs involved in private SAR missions but, sadly, the operators could not agree so nothing happened.
Blackhawks join search for missing chopper - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
Blackhawks join search for missing chopper
By PNG correspondent Liam Fox
Updated July 10, 2012 18:26:34
Related Story: Search continues for chopper missing in PNG
Related Story: Australians on board helicopter missing in PNG
Map: Papua New Guinea
Two Australian Defence Force Blackhawk helicopters have joined the search for a chopper missing in Papua New Guinea's highlands.
The fourth full day of searching failed to find any sign of the missing helicopter.
The Hevilift Bell 206 disappeared last Friday while travelling from a drill rig site to Mt Hagen.
Three people were on board, including two Australians, 42-year-old pilot Russell Aitken and 36-year-old engineer Emmett Fynn.
Australia's High Commissioner to PNG, Ian Kemish, says two Blackhawk helicopters joined the search today after local authorities asked for help.
"Our ADF colleagues responded very quickly and have already undertaken several hours of search in the area," he said.
The Blackhawks were already in PNG providing logistical support for the country's general election.
Hope tomorrow brings good news R W
Blackhawks join search for missing chopper
By PNG correspondent Liam Fox
Updated July 10, 2012 18:26:34
Related Story: Search continues for chopper missing in PNG
Related Story: Australians on board helicopter missing in PNG
Map: Papua New Guinea
Two Australian Defence Force Blackhawk helicopters have joined the search for a chopper missing in Papua New Guinea's highlands.
The fourth full day of searching failed to find any sign of the missing helicopter.
The Hevilift Bell 206 disappeared last Friday while travelling from a drill rig site to Mt Hagen.
Three people were on board, including two Australians, 42-year-old pilot Russell Aitken and 36-year-old engineer Emmett Fynn.
Australia's High Commissioner to PNG, Ian Kemish, says two Blackhawk helicopters joined the search today after local authorities asked for help.
"Our ADF colleagues responded very quickly and have already undertaken several hours of search in the area," he said.
The Blackhawks were already in PNG providing logistical support for the country's general election.
Hope tomorrow brings good news R W
I fly in remote areas too. Not as remote as PNG but it is pretty lonely out here.
There have been reports of ELTs not going off in case of a hard landing or worse.
Since I'd like to be found dead or alive in case off a mishap I have mounted a SPOT2 in my aircraft with tracking service activated.
The aircraft is being tracked by the office and selected friends over the internet.
Edit: What is a SPOT?
SPOT SATELLITE MESSENGER :: HOME PAGE
There have been reports of ELTs not going off in case of a hard landing or worse.
Since I'd like to be found dead or alive in case off a mishap I have mounted a SPOT2 in my aircraft with tracking service activated.
The aircraft is being tracked by the office and selected friends over the internet.
Edit: What is a SPOT?
SPOT SATELLITE MESSENGER :: HOME PAGE
Last edited by GoodGrief; 10th Jul 2012 at 13:00.
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Granny, reportedly they had been having some 'issues' with that bird. Changed FCU on it to get it back to Hagen base.
I reckon those personal epirbs would be close to useless underneath 3 canopy jungle.
You'd have to climb to the top of a 200' tree.
I reckon those personal epirbs would be close to useless underneath 3 canopy jungle.
You'd have to climb to the top of a 200' tree.
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Surely the lack of an official SAR capacity, challenging terrain and subsequent risk to crews would merit a tracking/signaling device fitted by the operating companies to all their aircraft!
Join Date: Jun 2012
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Check out Spider Tracks Live flight tracking | Spidertracks
I wouldn't go flying with out these days. Lots of mountainous country in NZ
I wouldn't go flying with out these days. Lots of mountainous country in NZ
Check out Spider Tracks Live flight tracking | Spidertracks
I wouldn't go flying with out these days. Lots of mountainous country in NZ
I wouldn't go flying with out these days. Lots of mountainous country in NZ
Regarding the usefulness of ELT, I can't remember a missing aircraft in PNG actually ever being detected by the system. They either don't go off, get damaged, or the signal is shielded by the terrain making remote detection impossible. They do however go off from time time via inadvertent activation, and they are detected then. But as I say, I can't remember the last time an aircraft wreck in PNG was detected by the system.
Last edited by gulliBell; 11th Jul 2012 at 05:34.
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I can't remember a missing aircraft in PNG actually ever being detected by the system.
Last edited by blackhand; 11th Jul 2012 at 07:31.
True, but there were witnesses to those prangs and they were not reliant on the ELT for discovery....I mean in those instances where the aircraft went down in remote dense jungle, I don't remember any of those ELT being activated or detected by satellite.
PNG helicopter search enters sixth day | Pacific Beat | ABC Radio Australia
Found this link to ABC Radio National, Interview was at 17:25 today, the speaker is Australia's High Commissioner to Papua New Guinea, Ian Kemish.
Still no good news.
R W
Found this link to ABC Radio National, Interview was at 17:25 today, the speaker is Australia's High Commissioner to Papua New Guinea, Ian Kemish.
Still no good news.
R W
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I don't remember any of those ELT ----- --------- or detected by satellite
I don't know what the xmon power is on the Judas collars we used on animals during the TB eradication by comaprison to your average ELT, but we had one very smart bovine who when she heard us used to gallop for cover and be hard to find. The freq we were using was around 150 megs.
We would be right up at 2,500 ft listening to the shlick - shlick in amongst very difficult static, constantly turning and tracking with a yargi aerial, hoping it woudl become a strong click - click, then it would fade, we would reciprocate or turn ninety degrees, but when the cow would detect us going away, she would head for other cover, we would hear a stronger signal briefly while she was travelling across open ground and so on. Finally we realised how much she was onto us and we relocated her collar onto another animal.
This was after only about four or five times tracking her to find her cohorts. One smart cow.
The cover was only isolated clumps of light timber up to about thirty feet but is was enough to completely block the signal at times from just a few mile away.
So, all the best there. tet
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Surely an operator wouldn't go to the expense of installing AFF/Spidertracks/Tracplus/Flightcell unit in the aircraft and then disable it because of the nominal daily subscription charge from the provider. How much would it be? $2 per day? Whatever the cost it would have to be near the low end of the total contribution to the overall direct daily operating cost.
Parts found by local
"A villager in Papua New Guinea has found bits of a helicopter that crashed carrying a New Zealander and two Australians a week ago.
Antony Annan, 49, and two of his Australian colleagues, have been missing since they made a mayday call from their helicopter on Friday afternoon.
Neither the trio nor the helicopter has been found, however helicopter company Hevilift, which is in charge of the search, has been handed their first breakthrough.
A villager in Papua New Guinea was searching water ways and rivers when he found some pieces of plastic that were clearly from a "fly away kit" that is usually kept in the boot of the helicopters operated by Hevilift.
It is a plastic container that holds items like oil, rags and grease guns, Hevilift spokesman Ian McBeath said.
"It is obvious that it is part of the missing helicopter as it is consistent with the size and shape of the container we use for the kit and it has what we believe to be the outline of a 'H' in blue paint.
"We paint the helicopter registration number, in this case HCY, on each container."
McBeath said that when the villager found the piece, he returned to Umasia Village on the Purari River, about eight miles from where he found it.
"When search headquarters got the news at around noon local time, an aircraft was dispatched to pick up the villager and have him show searchers where the debris was located."
Hevilift said while they were searching the area another villager flagged down the search helicopter and provided a second piece of the same plastic container.
McBeath however said the findings did not indicate the men had had a soft landing.
"Regrettably these broken pieces of container would most likely indicate that there has been a hard landing and the aircraft has broken up.
"Finding these pieces means the search area has narrowed significantly, however we still have a large section of countryside to cover.
"We have been advised that there was very heavy rain in the area last night and this has most likely flushed these items out of the bush and into one of the dozens of rivulets which run into the Gipi Creek which runs into the Purari River.
"We now know that the area where we have been searching was the correct one and we can concentrate the ground search teams upstream of the location of where the debris was found, which is five miles from Bawata," he said"
Link: Helicopter parts found by PNG villager, Kiwi and... | Stuff.co.nz
Antony Annan, 49, and two of his Australian colleagues, have been missing since they made a mayday call from their helicopter on Friday afternoon.
Neither the trio nor the helicopter has been found, however helicopter company Hevilift, which is in charge of the search, has been handed their first breakthrough.
A villager in Papua New Guinea was searching water ways and rivers when he found some pieces of plastic that were clearly from a "fly away kit" that is usually kept in the boot of the helicopters operated by Hevilift.
It is a plastic container that holds items like oil, rags and grease guns, Hevilift spokesman Ian McBeath said.
"It is obvious that it is part of the missing helicopter as it is consistent with the size and shape of the container we use for the kit and it has what we believe to be the outline of a 'H' in blue paint.
"We paint the helicopter registration number, in this case HCY, on each container."
McBeath said that when the villager found the piece, he returned to Umasia Village on the Purari River, about eight miles from where he found it.
"When search headquarters got the news at around noon local time, an aircraft was dispatched to pick up the villager and have him show searchers where the debris was located."
Hevilift said while they were searching the area another villager flagged down the search helicopter and provided a second piece of the same plastic container.
McBeath however said the findings did not indicate the men had had a soft landing.
"Regrettably these broken pieces of container would most likely indicate that there has been a hard landing and the aircraft has broken up.
"Finding these pieces means the search area has narrowed significantly, however we still have a large section of countryside to cover.
"We have been advised that there was very heavy rain in the area last night and this has most likely flushed these items out of the bush and into one of the dozens of rivulets which run into the Gipi Creek which runs into the Purari River.
"We now know that the area where we have been searching was the correct one and we can concentrate the ground search teams upstream of the location of where the debris was found, which is five miles from Bawata," he said"
Link: Helicopter parts found by PNG villager, Kiwi and... | Stuff.co.nz
The subscription and usage charges are quite a bit more than that. The cost of the system is of no concern to operators when the client is paying for it. But where a client is not paying for it, I am aware of an operator increasing the reporting time interval to reduce the cost, and not repairing equipment that becomes inoperative (due to the cost of fixing it not being chargeable to a client). That is just the commercial reality of operating in PNG.
Last edited by gulliBell; 12th Jul 2012 at 08:24.
"That is just the commercial reality of operating in PNG."
Then you are not viable then.
Real-time tracking is a must in PNG. It is a necessary piece of equipment, just like wearing a helmet, if you want to operate in this environment. The cost is minimal (about $1.65 per hour based on 85 hrs month-Spidertracks), but the safety advantages huge.
Then you are not viable then.
Real-time tracking is a must in PNG. It is a necessary piece of equipment, just like wearing a helmet, if you want to operate in this environment. The cost is minimal (about $1.65 per hour based on 85 hrs month-Spidertracks), but the safety advantages huge.
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I am an optimist.
Here's hoping for some good nius this morning - retrieval team going into the wreck. You could survive trapped in the wreckage for 7 nights. There has been heaps of rain there. They have pulled people out of quake rubble after 21 days and they have survived with NIL liquids.
Here's hoping for some good nius this morning - retrieval team going into the wreck. You could survive trapped in the wreckage for 7 nights. There has been heaps of rain there. They have pulled people out of quake rubble after 21 days and they have survived with NIL liquids.