Emergency Rescue - Who To Call

Emergency rescue services - who to call

You are out flying in the back country and you see another pilot crash or take a heavy landing. It looks serious.

Coastal ridge soaring, you have a collapse and crash land, unhurt, onto an otherwise inaccessible ledge. You receive a text message from a friend saying that someone has badly hurt themselves near the top of a mountain and a rescue helicopter is needed. You should always consider the worst and hope for the best. It is far better to over-react and activate rescue services than to think things will be all right, which could result in a worse outcome. So... who do you call, what do you do? The answer is not what you would think.

Calling in rescue Services

Before we explain how rescue services work we want to clearly understand who to call or notify first when you see or are involved in a hang gliding, paragliding, paramotor or speedwing flying accident. #1 The single best way to get an immediate response, with location and ‘no questions asked’ is to ACTIVATE YOUR DISTRESS BEACON. #2 Call RCC (Rescue Coordination Service NZ) on 0508 ACCIDENT (0508 222 433) and state you have seen or have been involved in a paragliding/aircraft accident. #3 Call 111 if you do not have normal reception but you do have emergency services reception and ask for the Police. (See below for further information on calling using 111).

Get a fast response by activating your beacon

Beacon activations usually take less than a minute to come through to the Rescue Coordination Centre (RCC), and give your location, details and any extra information you have added to your profile. SEND beacons (e.g. InReach or SPOT) normally take a little bit longer (up to 5 minutes) as they go through another (normally overseas) service that then directly contacts RCC. If you are flying above a crash site but are not involved in the incident directly, activate your own beacon if the downed pilot is: • not able to do so themselves due to injury • not able to respond to you on radio Note there is no issue if multiple beacons have been activated.

rescue Activation Flow Chart

rCCNZ 24/7 emergency NZ toll Free 0508 ACCIdeNt (0508 222 433) enter this number into your phone NOW!

Note: If you are the pilot’s emergency contact person and you have been notified via a notification from a SEND device of the emergency please call this number to provide them with additional information that may assist the rescue helicopter. If Calling from outside of New Zealand: +64 4 577 8030.

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understanding who is in charge

There are three main bodies who can take responsibility for the response to accidents and incidents involving free fliers: –• Police • Rescue Coordination Centre New

Zealand (RCCNZ) • Ambulance

police Search and rescue

The Police are responsible for coordinating searches and rescues that involve land, inland waterways, caves and close-to-shore. These searches and rescues are termed ‘Category One’ incidents. Police respond to nearly 2,000 land and marine search and rescue incidents each year, and these are coordinated at a local level. The call will go through to a single Police officer holding the on-call phone, who is probably out doing their day-to-day job. Police bring in whatever SAR assets are needed for the job, including helicopters, SAR volunteers and medical teams etc.

rescue Coordination Centre NZ

RCCNZ is responsible for searches and rescues involving aircraft, off-shore and emergency locator beacons. RCCNZ’s primary job is to coordinate: • searches for missing aircraft or aircraft in distress - this includes

HG/PG free flyers! • off-shore marine searches within New Zealand’s search and rescue region • searches for emergency locator beacons that have been activated. These searches and rescues are termed ‘Category Two’ incidents. RCCNZ also assists with other rescues when required, and provides search and rescue (SAR) coordination services from a fully staffed operations room in Wellington, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Note: RCCNZ is the best set up to provide the fastest response for free flight accidents.

Ambulance

The ambulance services (St John’s and Wellington Free Ambulance) are not directly involved in searches and rescues. Their role is to collect injured people from known locations.

Calling 111 – what you need to know

When we call 111 you normally are asked if you need Police, Ambulance or Fire. Your response directs where the operator sends you. If you say somebody has had an accident or is injured you will typically be sent directly to AMBULANCE. This is a crucial area for us to understand. Ambulance is not able to initiate a rescue response. To call in Search and Rescue you must ask for police and then state specifically that you need a SAR response.

Not all beacons are the same.

A distress beacon is an electronic device which, when activated in a life threatening situation, assists rescue authorities in their search to locate those in distress. Free flight pilots can use Satellite Emergency Notification Devices and/or Personal Locator Beacons: • Satellite Emergency Notification

Devices (SENDs) include devices such as InReach and SPOT. A

SEND works by getting a GPS fix, then transmitting your location via communication satellites. This could be with routine messages, tracking points or a distress message when you press the

Emergency/SOS button. Routine messaging can reduce battery life available if an emergency occurs, and they have limited waterproofing. If this is your only emergency device you carry, fully charge your device before flight and consider additional spare batteries or for internal fixed batteries a backup battery with a charging lead. • Personal Locator Beacons (PLBs) can only send a distress signal, but they do this via two methods - transmitting an analogue distress signal on 121.5MHZ as well as digital distress information (GPS position information and beacon registration number) on 406MHZ. Any powered aircraft (including Air NZ at 40,000’) will detect 121.5MHZ, and SAR helicopters can home in on your exact spot using this signal.

this is specifically relevant

when the terrain might prevent a SEND or PLB from getting a good GPS position, but a SAR helicopter close by could still receive and track the 121.5MHZ signal. PLBs are manufactured to an international standard of ruggedness and battery life. Because SENDs and PLBs work quite differently, carrying both devices for free flight pilots will significantly increase the chances of urgent medical assistance and rescue.

beacons work best whether an urban or remote location

According to Mike Ambrose (LANDSAR NZ) the best way to get the fastest possible response to free flying accidents is to activate your distress beacon. This applies to both: • Urban Locations where phone reception is available. • Remote locations where no phone reception is available.

In both situations the FASteSt

Right; Kyla on her 40th birthday, borrowing Melanie Heather’s wing at Treble Cone

Photo; Johnny Hopper

way to get a response is to ACtIVAte A beACON (plb or SeNd).

If you have cell phone reception and you have activated your beacon about an accident, you should then also CALL RCCNZ to give them information about what has occurred and let them know that you are not directly involved in the accident yourself. There is no charge or fault for activating a beacon if you are not directly injured yourself.

When to call 111 vs beacon activation or calling rCC NZ directly?

Essentially you should only call 111 if the incident has occurred in an urban setting and you only need the medical services of an ambulance. Examples include; • Queenstown rugby field • Pembroke Park, Wanaka • An urban situation IMMEDIATELY accessible/beside a road with no technical assistance required • If caught in an urban tree or somewhere where an ambulance can help directly. They will use the Fire Service to assist them in these situations. • If there has been a crash, it can be helpful to tell the Ambulance operator that there has been “a fall from height”. Most of our take-offs and flying areas can be considered to NOT be in an urban situation ie no house number or road address - so trigger beacon and/or call RCC and be prepared to provide GPS coordinates. Any GPS format is ok, provided you say the numbers and all the coordinate names slowly and clearly. Eg. 44° 41.0425’ FOUR FOUR DEGREES FOUR ONE DECIMAL ZERO FOUR TWO FIVE MINUTES. Practice with the devices you take flying so you can quickly find your current coordinates, and learn how to approximate the coordinates of a pilot you can’t reach, by dropping pins or other methods. Finally - all incidents/accidents/ injuries/rescues can often create a high stress situation. One of the first points of rescue/emergency response is to not create a larger problem or put yourself in danger. Take the time to assess and move slowly. Don’t allow your ego, perceived embarrassment or thoughts that the pilot is telling you that they are not injured to assume that rescue services are not needed. Rescue and emergency services are fault free. Get the help you need - don’t add to the incident. NZHGPA Acknowledgement: PG Pilot Mal Haskins and the team of contributors Dan Clearwater, Blake Round, Nina Harrap, Sven Ericksen, CAA, LandSAR and RCCNZ.

Ever wondered what the Association actually is? You’re not alone

Kyla MacDonald, NZHGPA Exec Councillor explains...

did you know…

The NZHGPA is privileged to be one of the few member-owned Part 149 certificate holders in New Zealand (many of the others are limited liability companies), and we are certainly the largest.

So what? I’ve never even heard of a part 149 certificate.

Part 149 is the part of the Civil Aviation Authority rules that apply to recreational aircraft – that’s us. Holding the certificate is what enables the NZHGPA to set its own training and equipment standards, issue pilot certificates and ratings, entitles us to fly and allows us to organise aviation events like competitions and fly-ins.

The NZHGPA is the envy of many other aviation organisations, because of the authority delegated by the CAA to our CEO to self-regulate. Compare that to the alternative control of CAA setting training, equipment and maintenance standards, site control and issuing pilot licenses and ratings.

The 149 certificate is the golden ticket that basically gives member pilots the legal right to fly. So… it’s pretty important for us to maintain it.

What’s the difference between the Clubs and the NZHGpA (aka the Association)?

The NZHGPA is an Association of Clubs. What does that mean? Well, an association is generally a membership organisation or a group of people who come together for a specific purpose. In our case, it’s to enable recreational hang gliding and paragliding (+ the powered version, + speed flying).

The common focus is to develop, protect and promote the sport of hang gliding and paragliding, so we can all just grab our kit and go fly.

What’s the Club have to do with it then?

Our structure has local Clubs, which are Membership Organisations of the Association. All the Clubs and the Association are legal entities under the Incorporated Societies Act.

Every pilot is a member of a local Club, as well as being a member of the national Association.

Why do we need both?

Every region is different, and Clubs represent local and regional interests. Clubs generally deal with things like site access and maintenance. They also deal with the social side of things.

Back in the day, the Association was created so that the Clubs could have a single, much larger and stronger voice for representation when dealing with bodies like the CAA. Most recently it’s been beneficial for dealing with insurance companies for compulsory public liability insurance, and negotiating with the Department of Conservation for a nationwide concession, ward off national airspace threats and deal with various legal matters.

What if I want to get more involved?

Sweet as. Contact your local Club committee and let them know. Sometimes people feel like they aren’t experienced enough. You are!

If you want to get involved at a national level, contact the NZHGPA Exec on exec@nzhpga.org.nz or contact one of the Exec directly for a yarn (details at the front of the mag).

Thanks to all the dedicated volunteers working behind the scenes on behalf of all pilots. Without you, we would not be able to fly in NZ. It’s a team effort to keep the wheels turning and always appreciated.

nZHGPA training Update

New Website

We have a new website at last, well done to all who have been working on it!

There is still a bit of ironing out to do but it is hopefully already a lot better than what we had and will continue to improve as we go forward.

There are a few changes you will notice which have been made for the security of the association, Password access has been added to the forms and our membership database.

to Access Forms:

1 Go to the main web page: www.nzhgpa. org.nz 2 Go to ‘Pilots’ then under the drop down menu click ‘Licensing and Administration’ 3 Enter the Password: letsfly (this password can also be found under your member profile once logged in) 5 Check out the new layout all forms, manuals and exams are now under the appropriate category/discipline and will hopefully be a lot easier to navigate.

We will be improving the content under the drop down menus so not only will the manuals, exams and forms be found in the one place for each rating, but there will be a bit of direction for instructors and pilots as to what’s needed for each rating.

Note: Forms are currently best accessed using Google Chrome as your browser, any browser works however some other browsers don’t let you preview the PDF’s, only download them, we are working on this.

Feedback

We invite constructive feedback on what you see, please note there is work yet to be done but feel free to get in touch with anything that is missing or you feel could be done better...

Email Feedback training@nzhgpa.org.nz

What’s happening to members.nzhgpa. org.nz

This will be your member profile and used only for the membership directory, instructor only content and membership renewal.

The only access to this page will be through your membership login, so it will now start to look very different.

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