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Tasmania specific bushwalking discussion.

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Tasmania specific bushwalking discussion. Please avoid publishing details of access to sensitive areas with no tracks.
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Re: Helicopter Rescues in Tasmania "2"

Sat 19 Feb, 2022 10:49 pm

One of the Westpac choppers is at Kia Ora Hut tonight:
https://flightaware.com/live/flight/POL ... 1112Z/YMHB

Edit: It returned to the airport.
Last edited by FLICKIT on Sun 20 Feb, 2022 9:25 am, edited 1 time in total.

Re: Helicopter Rescues in Tasmania "2"

Sun 20 Feb, 2022 9:10 am

One of the Westpac helicopters just visited Surveyors Cabin on the Three Capes Track:
https://flightaware.com/live/flight/POL ... 2201Z/YMHB

It returned to the RHH...

Re: Helicopter Rescues in Tasmania "2"

Sun 20 Feb, 2022 10:19 am

Son of a Beach wrote:(What usually happens after I post something pedantic like this is that somebody better educated or more pedantic than me picks apart what I've written... and I'm OK with that.)
Son of a Beach wrote:they should explain how being repellant helped them get down to the boat).

Um, should that be "repell-ant" or "repell-ent" :wink:? Sorry Nik, and I'm glad I'm not the only pedant on this site.
p.s. A lot of cops can't spell. I have a brother who is one, you should see his text messages :).

Re: Helicopter Rescues in Tasmania "2"

Sun 20 Feb, 2022 11:01 am

johnw wrote:
Son of a Beach wrote:(What usually happens after I post something pedantic like this is that somebody better educated or more pedantic than me picks apart what I've written... and I'm OK with that.)
Son of a Beach wrote:they should explain how being repellant helped them get down to the boat).

Um, should that be "repell-ant" or "repell-ent" :wink:? Sorry Nik, and I'm glad I'm not the only pedant on this site.
p.s. A lot of cops can't spell. I have a brother who is one, you should see his text messages :).

The word should have been rappelling. But, anyway, Google agrees with Nik in a search of the word!
Screenshot_20220220-115747~2.png

Re: Helicopter Rescues in Tasmania "2"

Sun 20 Feb, 2022 5:30 pm

doogs wrote:The word should have been rappelling

Agreed. Many years ago we went to an army open day near home and they were doing mock battlefield exercises.
Curiously, even though we use the term abseiling in Oz, they described one of their activities as "rappelling from helicopters".
Either way my discomfort with exposed heights means that I've only done a handful of, whatever term one chooses :).

Re: Helicopter Rescues in Tasmania "2"

Tue 22 Feb, 2022 11:46 pm

Westpac POL71 is searching around off-track between Savage River and the Corinna Rd at the moment:
https://flightaware.com/live/flight/POL ... /YMHB/YSRN

Re: Helicopter Rescues in Tasmania "2"

Sat 05 Mar, 2022 2:25 pm

From Tas Police

Tasmania Police Search and Rescue have responded to two callouts for assistance overnight.

Just before 10pm police were alerted to an activation of a Personal Locator Beacon (PLB) on the Overland track near the Bert Nichols Hut.

Conditions prohibited a rescue helicopter attending however a Search and Rescue ground team accompanied by a Wilderness Paramedic were dispatched to the area. The rescue team were assisted by marine officers who provided transport by boat across Lake St Clair.

The search and rescue team walked throughout the night and at around 7am this morning located a female who had become lost. She was not injured and was in good condition, and located around 900 metres from the track. She is currently walking with the search and rescue team to Lake St Clair.

In a second incident, police were contacted around 10pm with concerns for a walking party on the South Coast Track near Surprise Bay. The Westpac Rescue Helicopter was dispatched to the location but were unable to land due to the conditions. The helicopter reattended this morning and ascertained that it was due to an inadvertent activation of a distress message.

Re: Helicopter Rescues in Tasmania "2"

Tue 08 Mar, 2022 9:04 pm

It looks like Westpac-POL72 picked someone up from the southern end of the OLT, Bert Nichols hut area, and dropped them at the RHH earlier this evening:
https://flightaware.com/live/flight/POL ... /YMHB/YXHH

Re: Helicopter Rescues in Tasmania "2"

Tue 15 Mar, 2022 7:19 pm

A couple of nice vids here from a Western Arthurs pickup on Sunday:
https://www.facebook.com/WestpacRescueTas/posts/3234337256884072

This flight I assume:
https://flightaware.com/live/flight/POL72/history/20220312/2340Z/YMHB/YXHH

Re: Helicopter Rescues in Tasmania "2"

Wed 16 Mar, 2022 9:54 am

Overlandman wrote:From Tas Police

Tasmania Police Search and Rescue have responded to two callouts for assistance overnight.

Just before 10pm police were alerted to an activation of a Personal Locator Beacon (PLB) on the Overland track near the Bert Nichols Hut.

Conditions prohibited a rescue helicopter attending however a Search and Rescue ground team accompanied by a Wilderness Paramedic were dispatched to the area. The rescue team were assisted by marine officers who provided transport by boat across Lake St Clair.

The search and rescue team walked throughout the night and at around 7am this morning located a female who had become lost. She was not injured and was in good condition, and located around 900 metres from the track. She is currently walking with the search and rescue team to Lake St Clair.
.


As far as I can tell this was a person camped at Pine Valley who lost the track coming down off The Acropolis and headed for the OT/Bert Nichols for want of a better way to recover. Did *&%$#! well to get as far as they did. They got very very close to Bert Nichols before hitting the PLB button/being found by the Police very early in the morning.

I was walking out on the OT the same day the Police/ Paramedic walked the person out.

Re: Helicopter Rescues in Tasmania "2"

Thu 17 Mar, 2022 12:01 pm

Westpac-POL72 just returned from a run down to the Louisa Bay/River area on the South Coast Track, they returned to the airport so it probably wasn't serious:
https://flightaware.com/live/flight/POL ... /YMHB/YMHB

Re: Helicopter Rescues in Tasmania "2"

Thu 17 Mar, 2022 6:18 pm

Westpac-POL72 appears to be around Mt Anne at the moment:
https://flightaware.com/live/flight/POL ... 0146.45657

Edit: Eastern end of Lonely Tarns:
https://globe.adsbexchange.com/?icao=7c1602
POL72ma.jpg
Last edited by FLICKIT on Thu 17 Mar, 2022 6:41 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Re: Helicopter Rescues in Tasmania "2"

Thu 17 Mar, 2022 6:30 pm

Where the new tent platforms are. Interesting.

Re: Helicopter Rescues in Tasmania "2"

Thu 17 Mar, 2022 6:47 pm

From Vigilante News
The Tasmania Police Westpac rescue helicopter has landed at Mt Anne on a medivac following an plb activation.

Re: Helicopter Rescues in Tasmania "2"

Thu 17 Mar, 2022 6:52 pm

Ended up at the hospital. Wish we had the tech in the 90s when my friend broke his leg and we had to get him out the old fashioned way.

Re: Helicopter Rescues in Tasmania "2"

Thu 17 Mar, 2022 6:57 pm

potato wrote:Ended up at the hospital. Wish we had the tech in the 90s when my friend broke his leg and we had to get him out the old fashioned way.


It's reassuring watching them do their thing, that would have been around 2 hours between pressing the button and arriving at the hospital, very speedy... I hope they're ok...
POL72rhh.jpg

Re: Helicopter Rescues in Tasmania "2"

Sat 19 Mar, 2022 10:52 am

Westpac-POL73 picked someone up from Surveyors Cabin on the Three Capes Track this morning and dropped them at the RHH... They were down at the cabin for close on an hour before returning..
https://flightaware.com/live/flight/POL ... /YMHB/YXHH
POL73SUrv.jpg

Re: Helicopter Rescues in Tasmania "2"

Sat 19 Mar, 2022 10:45 pm

From vigilante news

The Tasmania Police Westpac rescue helicopter has been activated to Pillans Lake track, Walls of Jerusalem following a PLB activation. Our world class helicopter crew has attended a number of incidents tonight.

Nice night for flying with the full moon

Re: Helicopter Rescues in Tasmania "2"

Sat 19 Mar, 2022 10:47 pm

Westpac-POL71 is heading towards WOJ/OLT area, it departed Hobart around 11:30pm, not a good thing at this time of night:
https://flightaware.com/live/flight/POL ... 1223Z/YMHB

https://globe.adsbexchange.com/?icao=7c58a8

EDIT:
Overlandman wrote:From vigilante news
The Tasmania Police Westpac rescue helicopter has been activated to Pillans Lake track, Walls of Jerusalem following a PLB activation. Our world class helicopter crew has attended a number of incidents tonight.
Nice night for flying with the full moon

You beat me to it... That narrows it down, TY...
Last edited by FLICKIT on Sun 20 Mar, 2022 12:13 am, edited 1 time in total.

Re: Helicopter Rescues in Tasmania "2"

Sat 19 Mar, 2022 11:03 pm

It wen to Hut:4 on the western side of Pillans Lake.. Hut 4 is a Crown licenced shack, most likely a trout fisherman...

Re: Helicopter Rescues in Tasmania "2"

Mon 21 Mar, 2022 7:44 am

The Rescue Helicopter then proceeded to Launceston Airport, landing in the RFDS Hanger area.
Bit strange as it normally flies the patients to Launceston or Hobart Hospital?

Re: Helicopter Rescues in Tasmania "2"

Mon 21 Mar, 2022 8:54 am

Overlandman wrote:The Rescue Helicopter then proceeded to Launceston Airport, landing in the RFDS Hanger area.
Bit strange as it normally flies the patients to Launceston or Hobart Hospital?


When they hauled me in after rolling the Hilux, we went to Llanherne and I was transported the rest of the way in a normal ambulance. It wasn't an emergency, just protocol for vehicle rollovers. I'm guessing there was a comparable situation with this one. Or maybe it was an accidental activation.

Re: Helicopter Rescues in Tasmania "2"

Sat 02 Apr, 2022 8:53 pm

From Vigilante News

Sad outcome said he was bushwalking

Update: Further to our live report earlier as the matter was first reported we can now confirm that 19 year old man died shortly after being winched from the scene. The fall was significant at approximately 60 metres we are told, a number of emergency services attended. The fall occurred at around 3.00pm.

TVN Breaking News: Ambulance Tasmania and Tasmania Police including the Tasmania Police Westpac rescue helicopter are attending an incident at Cape Deslacs where we a person has fallen from a cliff top.

Update from ABC

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-04-03/ ... /100962106

Our initial inquiries indicate the man has walked close to the cliff edge, unfortunately slipping, which resulted in him falling," he said.

Re: Helicopter Rescues in Tasmania "2"

Sun 10 Apr, 2022 4:36 pm

One today from Vigilante News
TVN Breaking News: The Tasmania Police Westpac rescue has been activated to a search near the snowy south and lake skinner track where a walker has become lost. We understand the walker has some food and water and a mobile phone.

Edit. Rescued and okay

Re: Helicopter Rescues in Tasmania "2"

Tue 12 Apr, 2022 10:52 am

Westpac-POL73 is up at the Walls of Jerusalem at the moment:
https://flightaware.com/live/flight/POL ... 0146.31400
POL73WOJ.jpg


Edit: Returned to the Hobart airport:
https://flightaware.com/live/flight/POL ... 412/0127Z/

Re: Helicopter Rescues in Tasmania "2"

Thu 14 Apr, 2022 4:14 pm

It looks like someone was picked up off the OLT this afternoon, Du Cane or Kia Ora Hut area maybe ...

Westpac-POL71 disappeared into the valley near McCoy/Hartnett Falls:
https://flightaware.com/live/flight/POL ... 0146.14925
It reappeared an hour later near Deans Bluff (over towards Lees Paddock), then went to the Launceston General Hospital:
https://flightaware.com/live/flight/POL ... 0414/0527Z

Re: Helicopter Rescues in Tasmania "2"

Thu 14 Apr, 2022 4:48 pm

If anyone wants to keep an eye on our rescue helicopters you can make a free account on Flight Aware, then at the right of the tracking page there's a "Get Alerts" link, if you click that you can set a "departing" alert so you get an email each time they take off:

Our 3 Kawasaki BK117 Westpac helicopters are:
VH-RSQ https://flightaware.com/live/flight/POL71
VH-EMS https://flightaware.com/live/flight/POL72
VH-HRT https://flightaware.com/live/flight/POL73
The Bell 412EP Air Ambulance is:
VH-XCY https://flightaware.com/live/flight/AM78H
(you'll need to set an alert for each of them, and I think you can only have 4 alerts on a free account)

I started keeping an eye on them a few years back because I figure there's a good chance I'll have to set off my SPOT Tracker or PLB one day and it's nice to know what sort of weather they operate in, how fast they are to get to different areas, and such... (plus I like aircraft spotting when I'm bored)

I also use these two trackers at times, sometimes they'll show the aircraft better than FlightAware:
https://globe.adsbexchange.com/
https://www.flightradar24.com/-42.16,147.31/9

Re: Helicopter Rescues in Tasmania "2"

Sun 24 Apr, 2022 8:25 am

From Vigilante News

The Tasmania Police Westpac rescue helicopter is currently attending a area near Mt Wellington in regards to a missing walker. The helicopter was earlier activated to a search and medivac at the Dial Range, Penguin.

Re: Helicopter Rescues in Tasmania "2"

Wed 27 Apr, 2022 9:23 am

This morning Westpac POL71 transferred someone from around High Moor camp to the RHH:
https://flightaware.com/live/flight/POL ... 0146.30016

Re: Helicopter Rescues in Tasmania "2"

Tue 03 May, 2022 7:51 pm

From vigilante news

The Westpac rescue helicopter has been activated to Mt Wellington looking for a missing bushwalker.
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