Dramatic lake rescue footage released
 

BBC News - Dramatic lake rescue footage released

A valiant effort, sad result.

I think
 

Maybe the helicopter should have left the immediate scene. It just added to the confusion and perhaps caused the boat to capsize. Of course I was not there so I really do not know. Helluva try though.

Jerry

But hardly a surprise. That’s the level of local rotary SAR capability that now exists in NI. Up to March 2002 the first-rate, Aldergrove-based, Wessex SAR crews of ‘A’ Flt, 72 Squadron would have been there in c.20 minutes and the winchman would have had the casualty out of the lake and into Craigavon Area Hospital A&E in a further five, with a fair probability of saving his life.

No disrespect to the courage of the PSNI crew, or those in the dinghy, but that looked shambolic. Neither police EC135 / EC145 is winch-fitted – the crews aren’t trained anyway – and reports claim that an officer went out on the skids to pull the man out of the water on to thicker ice, so all that, coupled with the transit time for the Dublin-based Irish Coastguard Sikorsky, virtually ensured the unsuccessful result. Hypothermia doesn’t give you 35/40 minutes. With the lack of proper equipment they were extremely fortunate that there weren’t four fatalities and this coincides with fears that the NI Coastguard Centre in Bangor is one of those listed for closure. It beggars belief.

I have some photos of an ice rescue that worked, unfortunately the BB software has no capability to post them. :confused:

If you read How to post photographs, then I'm sure that you'll be able to work it out :ok:

You know that feeling you get when you know exactly what's going to happpen, way before it does?

Downwash, especially when using increased Tq during tight maneouvreing, can be vicious even from a light twin. 'Gusting' downwash vs small, unstable craft will not end well.

Accepting this is only a 'snapshot' of the whole incident and doesn't accurately describe the bigger picture, it would be unfair to criticise harshly. Using this snapshot as an illustration, though, there's a salutory lesson here about excessive task focus. The pressures of rescue tasking can be very high, especially with no local specialist helos and with cameras pointing at you; while the actions here were obviously well intended, this video clearly shows why it's so important to avoid 'tunnel vision'.

All concerned will have learned some valuable lessons here. If those in the boat were OK then they and the helo crew will be the wiser for it, I suspect. 1 fatality is bad, but 4 would have been far worse.

E99

The Police, Ambulance and Fire & Rescue Service investigations that follow this should be interesting. I hope the guys involved aren't crucified but I fear they might be. I imagine in the backs of their minds at the time were the media outcries that follow members of these services applying Health and Safety rules to the letter and not climbing down holes to rescue people or jumping in lakes to rescue drowning children.

Nonetheless, I have to pinch myself to remind myself that the footage I'm watching is from the UK in the 21st Century. It's a reminder to those that need it that SAR is a serious business and can really bite you on the @rse. Many, many people on these PPages have tried to suggest over the years that SAR can be a secondary, additional role to be attempted if and when required. I hope this video provides a reality check. explorer99's comment about excessive task focus is spot on. How low was that helicopter?

PhamousPhotographer - do remember that the Aldergrove Wessex was on RS60 so once the call had come in, it would have probably been a bit longer than 20 minutes before they were on scene. Unfortunately NI has a bit of a raw deal when you look at how far it is from the nearest UK-based SAR aircraft. Prestwick or Valley would take a while to get there but there are many other parts of the UK where the SAR crew are a fair distance away as well.

Ice Rescue
 

Uploading photos to a website so they can be viewed on another website is about the dumbest thing I've ever seen on the net. Anyway, here is a sequence from an ice rescue in Whistler, BC Canada in Feb or Mar 2005. The subject had been in the water 42 minutes and was about to go under for the last time. The crew got a medal of bravery from the Governor General of Canada.

http://www3.telus.net/whistlerwithey...s/RES_0001.jpg

http://www3.telus.net/whistlerwithey...s/RES_0002.jpg

http://www3.telus.net/whistlerwithey...s/RES_0003.jpg

http://www3.telus.net/whistlerwithey...s/RES_0004.jpg

http://www3.telus.net/whistlerwithey...s/RES_0005.jpg

http://www3.telus.net/whistlerwithey...s/RES_0006.jpg

http://www3.telus.net/whistlerwithey...s/RES_0007.jpg

aye and there's the rub - get it right and you're heroes, get it wrong and you're zeroes with every likelihood of turning yourselves into casualties as well.

There is no DS solution to this, if you find yourself in the situation you will be the only one to be able to make the judgement call and, for most people, watching a person die isn't much of an option.

In some ways you are better off in a lighter helo with a lower disc loading as the downwash of many modern twins is enough to submerge the person in the water.

The real problem is idiots who insist on walking on ice despite regular, well-publicised occurrences like this one:ugh:

It's scenes like this failed rescue that beg the questions;

1. Why in the UK do Police and HEMS twins not have winch trained crew and winches? Downunder it is the norm.

A FAA Part 133 trained pilot can legally, in the US, carry a person on a long line in an emergency, that would have saved this poor soul.

2. Why in the UK is there no equivalent?

Cheers
Chippy

Chippy, the answer is.....money, as is often the case in aviation.

This option has been considered a number of times before, at least a decade ago, during my time as a chief pilot at a police ASU.

After one rescue by a police aircraft, where an observer went out on the skid to pull someone from the sea, (albeit successfully, IIRC) we received a circular letter from the CAA, warning pilots that in future they may be prosecuted for endangering the aircraft if this happened again! Not sure the final outcome, I'm certain most of us decided to treat it with the contempt it deserved.

Not sure how an unconscious person would get himself onto a long line, btw. The CAA certainly don't generally allow persons to be dangled / suspended from a long line, see above! I know one pilot who was prosecuted after a load handler inadvertantly flew with his underslung load to its destination.....

Well maybe it's time to have a fresh look at UK SAR. We could start with a blank sheet, review basing, etc etc, and maybe integrate air ambulance operations as well. Almost like a harmonization of the SAR provision. All we need is a name for the project...

Doing this would remove the current arbitrary location of SAR bases. There might be scope to reduce cover at 3 flights to 12 hour ops. But surely noone would contemplate making two adjacent flights 12 hour ops:ugh:

Fair question, ChippyChop, as that's how it's done in your neck of the woods, but here are a few reasons why not in the UK:

1. After you've added Tetra comms, Skyshout, Nightsun, FLIR camera system, Tracker etc to a police-operated basic light twin, there's very little spare payload for rescue hoist, survivor and useful fuel.

2. Recurrent training on a HEMS / police unit is minimal, whereas training covers the majority of the flying on a dedicated SAR unit. Police / HEMS budgets would have to be significantly increased to cater for this (now is a bad time nationally to propose this...).

3. Any increase in recurrent training commitment would probably mean a reduction in availability for 'primary role' police / HEMS work.

4. Initial SAR training would probably be prohibitively expensive for police or HEMS operators under the current model.

5. The UK (mainland, at least) has a dedicated SAR service already that fills all the gaps described in points 1-4 above. Duplication is unlikely to be cost-effective.

E99

Even without money and a winch it can be done and there are free courses out there that will teach some of the techniques and pitfalls..... but you need to go get them they do not come to you [not for nothing anyway].

For the police [though not exclusively] the source of this rich vein of people who have been there made all the mistakes and have many of the answers is within the Airborne Law Enforcement Association [ALEA].

This is an international grouping of like minded policemen who will tell you how it is in their eyes [even if you may disagree] and I encourage them to come to Europe to tell their varied tales of things that little is known off. This year one of the presentations given in Prague was 'How to.... ice rescue....' presented by someone who has seen lots of ice and has therefore had many chances to make the mistakes and put them right. Another was high rise rescue....

With RAF SAR [the experts] on the wane is it not time to learn from others?

The problem is getting the [police air support] horse to the water....

72 SAR
 

Yes; on paper it was RS60 – in practice the ‘A’Flt SAR crews were on immediate standby and could be airborne in less than 10. I personally witnessed this once in January 2001 when they received a call to a capsized fishing boat in Carlingford Lough. “Well-oiled-machine” is a clichéd term, but it describes how both air and groundcrew performed their tasks. Rotors running within seconds and in just less than eight minutes they’d lifted from Aldergrove dispersal.

Whilst 72 were a SH squadron, they had a four man crew, doctor (when possible) and a dedicated SAR role-fitted cab (including hoist, stretchers, heart-start, oxygen etc) on standby during daylight-hours. The SAR duty was performed as efficiently as their bright yellow-liveried mainland-based Sea King brethren who provided the Province’s night cover. Many lives are known to have been saved by the 72 SAR cab - how we’ve regressed in the past decade.


And what cover do fishermen, hill walkers, cross-channel ferries et al have?

Spot-on TOTD. If the UK is going to retain a viable SAR service, organise and resource it properly.

And not post the nearest cover 30miles further away than it is now .

100ft long line....drop down a rescue harness, victim puts it on, lift him 10ft above ice to the side of the lake...they do this all over the world. The UK love to take the piss out of the FAA system and claim they are the best but with stuff like this they are miles ahead.
Why do we not just train out Police and HEMS to do basic short haul rescues? We have some of the most expensive and up to date helis in the world but we really don't use them properly? Just my opinion and not knocking the crew for having a go.
Also suprised the Canadian heli in the pics didn't opt for a long line instead of the much more risky way they picked him up? Attach the line to the cargo hook and put in back of heli, fly to the site of the victim and hover above victim and lower the line down to victim and pick up and take to side. ????
Any experienced guys out there in short haul have any answers?

PANews...you've been around and clearly know what i mean. Seems a real shame if we can't swallow some pride here and get in some north american help and training. There are some very cheap ways of doing this that could be set up and crews trained within days...i sure as **** bet it won't happen though. The CAA could never be told how something should be done!!!

Scrawny - If there is no cargo hook, what do you attach the line to?

The long line is attached to the hard point on the aircraft ( where the dispatchers harness is attached to)
It is attached via a weak link so should it all go wrong the weak link breaks. The latest 135s have two addition hardpoints next to both the rear sliding doors.