THIS week 18 years ago, four crew members walked away uninjured when a Westpac Rescue Helicopter from Tamworth crash-landed near Warialda.
On board were pilot David Davies, aircrew officer Jamie Yeo, Dr Chris Trethewy and critical care paramedic Stuart Harris.
The chopper was on its way to a serious motor vehicle accident involving multiple people when, at 4.15pm on Friday, February 2, 2007, the pilot was forced to make a crash landing about 10 minutes from Warialda.
The Tamworth chopper, aircraft B407, was travelling at 120 knots at 2000 metres at the time, when a warning light appeared on the aircraft’s instrument panel, followed seconds later by a loud ‘bang’, vibration and loss of engine power.
Davies began an emergency landing, conducting an ‘auto-rotation’ to the ground.
While doing his best to control the aircraft, Davies sent out a mayday call and commenced briefing the rest of the crew on the planned descent.
As they continued to descend, Davies and Yeo scoured the landscape for somewhere clear of obstacles where it would be safe to land.
Davies slowly reduced the forward speed from 120 knots to 70 knots – the velocity giving the slowest rate of descent.
On approach, Davies spotted a low set of power lines. He took corrective action and ‘flared’ the rotor disk to use what little rpm was available to turn the aircraft and lift over the powerlines.
The aircraft touched down heavily, causing the tail rotor to shear off and, with forward momentum, tipped onto its nose before rolling on its side and coming to a stop.
Harris and Dr Trethewy were uninjured and climbed through the sliding door before assisting Yeo and Davis through the top of the aircraft.
Davis, Harris and Dr Trethewy escaped uninjured, however Yeo received superficial injuries.
“When we hit the ground, I headbutted the moving map screen that I was holding and split the bridge of my nose, resulting in a bit of blood but nothing serious,” Yeo said.
While the aircraft was extensively damaged, all crew members walked away unscathed.
Within minutes of the hard landing, the crew were joined by half a dozen locals, ready to assist in any way possible.
After checking no one was injured, Dr Trethewy and Harris hitched a ride with a local farmer to the scene of the motor vehicle accident.
“I feel very grateful for Dave’s flying ability. He got us over the power lines, and we all walked away. It goes to show how integral our training is to maintain the highest level of operational excellence and safety,” Yeo said.
Davies said landing the chopper safely was a priority.
“That’s what we are trained to do,” he said.
“The big thing was, despite the circumstances of our own crash, the medical team went on and did the job we were tasked to do.”
Once on scene at the accident, Dr Trethewy and Harris helped treat seven gravely injured car crash victims.
“For Chris and Stuart to come out of that and then go on was truly heroic,” Davies said.
“In the wake of the incident, the Lismore service loaned us a helicopter and pilots for a month, and we were back online the following Tuesday,” Jamie said.
SOURCE: Westpac Rescue Helicopter Service Media
