Helinews

E STA B L I S H E D 1 9 8 8 W W W. H E L I N E WS . C O M . A U HELiNEWS ASIA-PACIFIC SPRING 2013

SPRING 2013 AU$15.00 NZ$18.00

2013 TASSIE FIRES TRUE TALES OF HEROISM THE FLYING DOCTOR TERRY MCMAHON’S MISSION FOR SAFETY

THE EARTH WINS THE FIRST IMAX FEATURE TO BE FILMED ENTIRELY FROM THE AIR

THE POACHER’S BULLET SHOT AT WHILE PILOTING A HELICOPTER

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09 CONTENTS

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PASSION OR PURPOSE

A DAY IN THE LIFE

COMPANY PROFILE

The Flying Doctor

Tassie Fires 2013

School's In

He might not be a doctor of the medical kind, but he’s learning what it is to be human. Terry McMahon swapped his cockpit seat for a ride in the simulator when he enrolled as a Human Factors PhD student and now his flying has taken a back seat to his new focus: improving safety standards.

Early 2013 saw flood and fires create havoc around Australia. Dave Ervin from Rotor-Lift, provides a first-hand perspective of working on the Tasmania fires and explains his company’s part in managing the large scale operation.

Martin Bass gets right to the heart of ab initio focused Bankstown Helicopters in this feature about the NSW-based school and its owner, CFI and chief pilot, Bill Miller.

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SPECIAL INTEREST

ADVENTURE

The Earth Wins

The Poacher's Bullet.

Sara Hine and Jerry Grayson from Helifilms discuss the seven-year making of their IMAX feature The Earth Wins, shot entirely from the air and narrated with music and text on screen.

Mike Reid’s adrenaline fuelled South African adventures steps up another notch. In this instalment, he finds himself on the receiving end of some triggerhappy poachers.

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10 CONTENTS

06 EDITORIAL Christina Hogarth

12 ROTORBEAT Industry News

58 SWINBURNE RESEARCH Dehydration and Heat Stress

REGULAR FEATURES

Terry McMahon and David Newman, from the Swinburne University Human Factors and Simulation Laboratory, present their research into the cause and effects of dehydration and heat stress.

62 FLIGHT PATH Multi-Licence Pilots Part 2 In part two of this series we chat to Darren Mitchell – a stunt pilot, kite surfer, and helicopter pilot with a love of all things that soar.

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INSTRUCTING CORNER Limited Power Industry veteran Ron Newman talks us through ‘Limited Power Operations’ and teaches us how to deal with one safely and effectively.

73 KNOWLEDGE TESTER Quiz We’re back with another memoryjogging history questionnaire, this time concerning the ‘Huey’ helicopter. How many will you get right?

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Publisher Nicholas Dower Editor Chrissy Hogarth chrissy.hogarth@niche.com.au Newsroom Assistant Editors Madeleine Swain & Rebecca Hagan Advertising Executive Megan Stewart megan.stewart@niche.com.au +61 3 9948 4900 Art Director Keely Atkins Production Manager Julia Garvey julia.garvey@niche.com.au Prepress Davin Lim Subscription Inquiries: Freecall 1800 804 160, subscriptions@niche.com.au Submissions We encourage readers to submit suitable work for consideration by the Editor. All correspondence of this nature should be directed to the Editor at the address below. To ensure return of hard-copy material, a postage paid self-addressed envelope must be supplied. Niche Media Pty Ltd accepts no liability for loss or damage of unsolicited material.

Helinews is a publication of Niche Media Pty Ltd ACN 13 064 613 529 Head Office 142 Dorcas Street, South Melbourne VIC 3205 tel: +61 3 9948 4900, fax: +61 3 9948 4990 PO Box 5177, South Melbourne VIC 3205 Chairman Nicholas Dower Managing Director Paul Lidgerwood paul.lidgerwood@niche.com.au Commercial Director Joanne Davies Content Director Dave Bullard dave.bullard@niche.com.au Financial Controller Sonia Jurista Accounting Software SapphireOne www.sapphireone.com Printer Southern Colour: +61 3 8796 7000 ISSN 1833-3788 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted in any form or by any other means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission in writing of the publishers. Any article or image published in Helinews is purely for information purposes only, and does not override any flight manual reference or any other legislative reference pertaining to the safety of flight. While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information in this publication, the publishers assume no responsibility for errors or omissions or any consequences of reliance on this publication. The opinions expressed in this publication do not necessarily represent the views of the editor or the publisher. © 2013 Niche Media Pty Ltd

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30 A DAY IN THE LIFE

The NVGs provide real-time night fire information that the incident management teams can use for planning.

“The hotspots are really easy to see with the NVGs. We carry a pilot, mapping crew and the FLIR operator,” says Ervin.

The fires that gained the most media coverage during the 2013 Tasmania fire season were in the Dunalley and Molesworth areas. The Dunalley fire was quite a big fire; it burned down over 170 houses and attracted international coverage. “We had the NAFC (National Aerial Fire fighting Centre) aircraft here, plus about seven of our aircraft and the other local operators. At one stage there were about 20 helicopters in the state,” says Ervin.

NAFC is a national contract supported by the Federal Government to supply helicopters (usually larger aircraft such as 212s or sky cranes) to the main capital cities for urban fire suppression. Ervin says, “We have about three NAFC helicopters in Tasmania. They have certain criteria regarding when they can launch their aircraft. It’s mainly about the urban interface fire suppression, rather than flying around putting out remote fires.

The fire authorities have the control over the contracted aircraft and can use them as required.”

The Dunalley fires took place in a semi remote rural area and started as a small fire. An extreme wind shift

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This operation emphasised the effectiveness of helicopters suppressing fires quickly. Once a fire reaches an urban interface, that’s when you get those Black Friday type fires.

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31 A DAY IN THE LIFE

above: The town of Dunalley was devastated on Tasmania’s worst day during what was an extreme fire season. ©Warren Frey

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at night spread the front and it went out of control. The next morning it impacted into areas that had little or no road access. The fire was active and causing damage for around seven days, but the damage to the township all happened within a four-hour time-frame.

“The Dunalley fire was practically unstoppable,” says Ervin. “Even the Elvis (Erickson Air-Crane) helicopter wouldn’t have made much difference.

“Big aircraft like this are good, but wouldn’t have been airborne because the smoke was pushing down really low. The smaller to medium helicopters were easier to get in. All the fires over that period were pretty much the same, it was really hard work.”

Dunalley was a small coastal township with lots of little houses that didn’t stand a chance. A burning pine forest around the township made visibility extremely poor, in some cases down to the ground, and this

restricted aircraft access. Because the fire was spreading so fast many of the pilots were forced to make on the spot decisions. Luckily, the pilots were experienced and were able to hop from one property protection task to another, placing water where they thought it was best needed. The erratic nature of the fire proved to be a challenge for even the most experienced pilots, but this was overcome with good communication and teamwork.

“The radio’s chatter between pilots at times was like a war zone; it was a bit surreal at times. It was difficult to pinpoint a fire front. It wasn’t a nice straight running edge; the fire was jumping one to three kilometres ahead, hitting houses here and there. It was really a credit to the ground crew and pilots. Everyone communicated well and just went out and worked hard to save the community. We didn’t lose anyone; that’s a lot of luck and some hard work from some good pilots,” says Ervin.

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50 ADVENTURE

ABALONE POACHER’S BULLET

Near the alluring azure waters of a South African paradise, Mike Reid encounters danger as he takes on a gang of abalone poachers.

he six-week surf rescue season along South Africa’s beautiful Eastern Cape coastline from Port Alfred to the Gamtoos River is always pretty frantic over the Christmas period. Holidaymakers travel from all over southern Africa to camp at resorts dotted along the largely unspoiled coastal paradise to enjoy the crystal blue Indian Ocean waters. Everyone arrives in a festive mood, ready to enjoy a few weeks of fun and frolicking on the beaches and in the waves.

Unfortunately, however, many unseen dangers lurk in the azure waters, ready to overwhelm ignorant and unthinking swimmers. All too many people find themselves trapped in rip currents, being swept out to sea, or they become exhausted in heavy surf, and end up in serious trouble. The Vodacom Netcare 911 Surf Rescue helicopters are kept busy during the season, pulling people out of the sea or, sadly, searching for bodies.

T A property under threat at Molesworth.

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All helicopter crews are highly trained and selected volunteers drawn from various professional and volunteer services, including the South African Police Service, National Sea Rescue Institute, South African Lifesaving, fire protection services, and various trauma and ambulance services. They have to have achieved prescribed levels of formal training and experience, successfully complete a flight crewman course, and then must be recommended for helicopter service by an accredited organisation.

Most of our work was directly related to surf rescue operations; however, we would also occasionally support other emergency services when asked to, and sometimes inadvertently.

It had been a fairly typical week of operations on the Surf Rescue helicopter, which in the last few days had included lifting a man in the advanced stages of drowning, who had been swept out to sea in a rip channel, and then successfully resuscitating him on the beach, a multiple www.helinews.com.au

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51 ADVENTURE

Perlemoen is the South African term for abalone, a highly prized shellďŹ sh worth more than cocaine in illegal international markets.

rescue of three drowning men also caught in a rip, where two were saved but one died on the beach, a number of fairly routine rescues, a bunch of media sorties for the service sponsors, and an aerial search helping the police to find a mugger who had attacked a family on a beach access road, stabbed the father and stolen a bunch of valuables at knifepoint before running into the sand dunes.

It was late afternoon and we had just finished with a body search for a 16-year-old boy, who had disappeared after last being seen swimming around some rocks with friends near a channel that opened out to the sea. The friends thought he was following them in to the shore, but they lost sight of him and no one had seen him since.

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