Chopper to Rescue
February 8th, 2008.
Second day on the job and the Mount Isa Community Helicopter has already
rescued a person.
The Gold Coast Man who was picked up between Bedourie and Birdsville became trapped after flood waters rose while he was searching for artefacts believed to belong to the explorers Burke and Wills.
The MICH CEO Alex Dorr speaking from Boulia yesterday where they refuelled said the man had to be rescued as he only had provisions left for one day and there was no other way of reaching the man.
He said the man had become trapped by flood waters and a plane sent to rescue hi could not land. He was located 170 km south of Bedourie.
Diamantina shire Council called on the MICH to come and rescue the man. ”He was a little embarrassed when we picked him up,’ Mr Dorr said “but very relieved.”
Mr Dorr said the rescue illustrated the need for the chopper to be based in Mt Isa “we are pleased with the way it went. It was a great success.” Two crew and Pilot was involved in the rescue, the man who was not injured was taken back to Bedourie.
Community Chopper Saved My Bacon
I found myself in a situation last month where the services of the Mount Isa Community Helicopter were required and used to extricate me from flood waters north-east of Birdsville after I had been flood bound for 6 days.
For this I thank them.
My personal thanks go to the Pilot and crew who had spent many hours in the air to carry out this operation and were totally professional in what they did.
I hope the community of Mt Isa and the North west relise what level of service and back up is being provided to them and that they continue to fully support what the community helicopter has achieved.
Once again thankyou and good luck.
Ian Andrews
Miami, Queensland.
Search & Rescue Doomadgee
March 7th, 2008.
A Doomadgee resident was rescued by The Mount Isa Community Helicopter yesterday after heavy rain on Wednesday night left him stranded near old Doomadgee.
The rescue was MICH second since the service was launched in February.
Police were contacted after a man did not return from a fishing trip on Wednesday. A search was attempted by road late Wednesday night but was called off due to the road impassable. The search resumed in the morning with the help of the rescue helicopter.
“we picked up a Police officer from Burketown and started to conduct a search by air around the Old Doomadgee area where the man was said to have gone fishing”
MICH CEO Alex Dorr said “we then started a track search from where we located his car, a note had been left on the vehicle to say he had started walking at 6.30 am with his dog. We located the man 20km from his car walking on the Old Doomadgee road.
The man and his dog were flown back to Doomadgee both were in good spirits.
Mr Dorr said the search would have been more difficult had the helicopter not been available.
“the roads were too wet so you would not have gotten a vehicle to him” he said “he still had 100km to walk to get back to Doomadgee so he had a long walk ahead of him.”
Medical Rescue First
April 2nd, 2008.
The Mount Isa Community Helicopter has had its metal tested with its first medical rescue on a station west of Mt Isa.
The MICH received the call at 2.30pm from RFDS to fly out to Barkley Downs stations 45 km west of Mt Isa to pick up a women in her early 20’s who had fallen of a motor bike and suffered facial injuries and a fractured wrist.
She was flown from the accident scene in the chopper to the awaiting RFDS plane at the Barkley Downs Station airstrip.
MICH CEO Alex Dorr said when the crew arrived they found the women had been strapped to a door frame to keep her still and her head was bandaged.
He said she has a laceration on her head and around her ear. “the RFDS tasked the helicopter to assist them” Mr Dorr said “it was the first primary medical tasking to an accident for the MICH, we’ve had two searches. This is the first time we’ve worked in conjunction with the RFDS. “it worked very very well were hoping that we can be utilised in this type of fashion- this is ideal; this is what we planned the chopper to be doing, to work with the RFDS.”
“The airstrip was 20mins flight time but would have been hours in a car, gone are the days that someone has to bounced in the back oif a ute to an airstrip.’
Two Nights Lost In Bush
April 28th, 2008.
FIVE people were missing for two nights in remote bushland near Doomadgee after their car broke down this week.
Two men, two women and a five-year-old child were stranded for two nights before they were found early yesterday.Mount Isa District Search and Rescue Coordinator Constable Alex Door said the five Aboriginal people had set out for a fishing trip on Wednesday morning.They left Doomadgee about 8am, headed for old Doomadgee, with plans to return about 4pm the same day.Constable Dorr said police were told of the missing people about 7.30pm on Thursday, more than 24 hours after they were expected to return."Police were particularly concerned for one of the females in the group who suffers a serious medical condition and was not believed to be carrying medication," Constable Dorr said.
A rescue coordination centre was established in Mount Isa and the search and rescue mission began.Constable Dorr said a fixed wing aircraft and a helicopter had searched for the group between Doomadgee and old Doomadgee.Constable Dorr said a fixed wing aircraft with Forward Looking Infra-red, which would allow people to be spotted at night, was deployed from Darwin to help with the search.
The Mount Isa community helicopter was sent up at first light and the Cairns rescue chopper was put on stand-by."About 8am, the plane reported a possible sighting of the missing persons and the chopper was sent to investigate," Constable Dorr said.He said three people had been found with their vehicle about 90km north of Doomadgee.A man and woman, both aged in their 40s, and a five-year-old child were airlifted to Doomadgee."It appears they have had mechanical difficulties with their vehicle, and spent two nights in the bush as a result," Constable Dorr said."We found three people together, but the two younger had walked away from the vehicle yesterday."
Constable Dorr said the other two people were spotted walking along the road as the chopper was flying back to Doomadgee and a police car was sent to collect them."At this stage the recovered persons are all safe and well with no major health concerns," he said.
Constable Dorr said the search was the first rescue mission for the new Mount Isa community helicopter, which has been in Mount Isa since March 19 on a trial period.
"It was great, it made a huge difference having a chopper here because the Cairns one was a minimum of five hours away.
"This one's here, ready to go the whole time and we made it up there in one hour and 45 minutes."
Constable Dorr said in an emergency situation, every second counted and the chopper could make the difference between life and death.
Two Injured in Tractor Crash
July 17th, 2008.
A women suffered multiple lower limb and chest injuries after a tractor roll over near duchess yesterday.
The women believed to be in her 50’s became trapped under the tractor when it rolled about 15 km from Duchess on the road to Cloncurry.
Her husband was thrown from the tractor both were airlifted to Mount Isa- the women by the Royal flying doctor Service, her husband by the Mount Isa Community Helicopter.
The chopper was called to the scene by the Queensland Fire Service about 2pm. The helicopter was airborne by 2.07 pm and back in Mount Isa landing at Kruschnitt Oval by 5pm.
Fire and Rescue, ambulance and Police crews were at the scene.
“We were tasked to carry two fire rescue personnel and road accident recovery equipment to Duchess in relation to a tractor roll over where we were informed that a person was trapped’, CEO Alex Dorr said.
“We were tasked to transport an RFDS Doctor and patient back to Mt Isa”
It is understood the couple was passing through the region last night both were in a stable condition.
Pilot survives crash landing near Mount Isa
July 18th, 2008.
A YOUNG pilot sent out a desperate mayday call before crash landing in scrubland near Mount Isa yesterday morning.
Uminga `Mango' Siriwardana miraculously survived the bumpy set down, about 30km north west of Mount Isa about 9.35am.The twin-engined Piper Navajo Savannah Aviation plane had left Century Mine and was descending in preparation for landing at Mount Isa Airport when it's believed both of the engines cut out.
The 24-year-old managed to alert authorities that he was going down shortly before crashing into the ground at high speed.He was trapped in the wreckage for nearly two hours before the wreckage of his plane was spotted.
He managed to activate his EPIRB and phone 000 on his mobile to help authorities find him.
Mount Isa Community Helicopter CEO and pilot Alex Dorr said he worked in the hangar next door to Mr Siriwardana. He praised the efforts of the young pilot.
"He's done a good job to keep it upright," he said.
"He's managed to get it down – I don't know whether it was good flying or good luck but he did very well. He's lucky to be alive.
"He cracked a few jokes while they were giving him the drugs.
"He said on the phone he could hear a helicopter and we narrowed in on him."
Mr Dorr said it was difficult to find the plane.
"We were tasked this morning by AusSAR (Australian Search and Rescue) after they had a report of a plane that had crashed and that an EPIRB was going off," he said.
"They arranged for a QAS (Queensland Ambulance Service) intensive care paramedic to come with us.
"There were two other local helicopters involved in the search and one of the helicopters came across the wreckage. We dropped the paramedic off and he requested we fly firefighters in to help get the patient out so we went back to Mount Isa to collect them."
Mr Dorr said Mr Wiriwardana was in a bad state when they arrived.
"It looked as if he had been thrown back and his leg was caught," he said.
"He suffered some fairly serious injuries. The aircraft was written off."
The pilot is believed to have sustained upper neck injuries, a fractured ankle and cuts and bruises. He was listed in a serious but stable condition in Mount Isa Base Hospital.Mount Isa Fire Station acting station officer Bruce McLean said the pilot was `lucky' to survive.
"The plane hit the ground and bounced several times before coming to a stop," he said.
"Two of our firefighters were flown in to help extricate the pilot. He had severe leg injuries and had to be taken out through the side window."
Mr Dorr said it took some manoeuvring to land the helicopter.
"It's scrub country with lots of smaller trees around," he said.
"We were lucky to find enough of a gap between the trees to wriggle the machine into."Mr Dorr said the community chopper had been vital in the rescue.
