atsb final report released 16 may 2013 - Ambulance Service of NSW

Figure 7: Rock ledgeCanyoner’s initial positionfollowing his rope failureLedge departure positionInitial contactFinal positionSource: ATSBThe injured canyoner recalled that when the winch hook arrived on the ledge, theduty paramedic connected it to both of them. He was able to see the helicopterhovering and recalled that it climbed out of his vision before, a short time later, heand the paramedic were dragged from the rock ledge and fell in the mannerdescribed by the ACM.The ACM recalled that after the fall the paramedic and patient were obscured by alarge rock. The pilot attempted to contact the duty paramedic via VHF radio and,although a number of reply transmissions were received, the quality of thesetransmissions was low and the flight crew could not understand them.The ACM guided the pilot to reposition the helicopter in an attempt to visuallyassess the patient and paramedic and facilitate the use of hand signals. However, themovement of the helicopter was limited by the generation of water spray from themain rotor downwash that obscured the pilot’s hover reference. Due to the waterspray and concern that winching the duty paramedic and patient from their obscuredposition may result in further injury, the pilot instructed the ACM to sever thewinch cable using the manual cable cutters (Figure 11) so that the helicopter coulddepart.After the winch cable was cut, the ACM assisted the pilot to reposition thehelicopter clear of the waterfall and they again attempted, unsuccessfully, to contactthe duty paramedic via radio. The pilot then landed the helicopter at the staging areaand commenced organising assistance for the duty paramedic and patient.From his position at the top of the waterfall, the support paramedic observed theACM sever the winch cable and the helicopter move away from the waterfall. Heattempted, without success, to contact the flight crew using VHF radio and bymobile telephone.- 11 -