Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Forced landing sparks alert. New Zealand.

Emergency services workers pictured during a callout to Hood Aerodrome, where the Otago Rescue Helicopter was forced to make an emergency landing while carrying a patient.

Two ambulances, two fire engines and several police cars all sped to the Masterton airport at 1.30pm when a Life Flight helicopter had to land after an onboard instrument showed a drop in oil pressure.

The helicopter was transporting a patient from Wellington Hospital to Wairarapa Hospital at the time, with the patient transferred to an ambulance for the rest of the journey.

Life Flight CEO David Irving said the sudden landing was purely precautionary.

"A gauge showed low pressure and the handbook says if that happens you land immediately," Mr Irving said. "You don't wait, you set down immediately.

"Luckily they were right by the airfield so they were able to land there."

A later check by an engineer showed the fault was with the instrument rather than the oil pressure, with the helicopter cleared to fly back to Wellington late yesterday afternoon.

"Helicopters are strange things in a way because if something does go wrong it goes wrong very, very badly," Mr Irving said.

The incident was no drama for the two crew members and nurse onboard, who landed quickly and safely before attending to the patient and calling for a helicopter engineer.

Masterton acting fire station officer Andy Simpson said the fire crews were dispatched as a precaution.

Firefighters helped transfer the patient from the helicopter to the awaiting ambulance before returning to base.

While operating as a Life Flight helicopter, the machine in question yesterday was an Otago Rescue Helicopter.

It was leased to the Wellington-based Life Flight while the Westpac helicopter was undergoing repairs, Mr Irving said.

Source:   http://www.times-age.co.nz

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