Qld: Helicopter pilot feared drowning after crash

AAP General News (Australia)
04-29-2001
Qld: Helicopter pilot feared drowning after crash

By Paul Osborne

BRISBANE, April 29 AAP - The pilot of a rescue helicopter which crashed on the Great
Barrier Reef on Friday night said he feared drowning while trapped in the cockpit.

"I thought I was finished," veteran pilot Mick Reynolds said today.

"I thought `I don't really want to drown out here, but there's not much choice because
I can't get out'," he told Channel 10 news.

Salvage operations are underway to recover the helicopter, which will be subject to
air safety investigations once delivered back to the mainland.

The Bell 407 rescue aircraft hit Swain Reefs, 240km north-east of the central Queensland
city of Rockhampton, about midnight Friday after it went to the aid of two tourists on
the crippled yacht Sunseeker II.

The yacht had run onto the reef after a power failure.

Mr Reynolds, crewman Scott Kennedy and the two Malaysian sailors they had gone to rescue,
Steven Leong and Michael Seng, were rescued from their life raft at first light yesterday
and are safe and well.

Capricorn Helicopter Rescue Service executive officer Kay Becker told AAP today the
salvage team had left Gladstone by boat about midnight and had begun floating the main
part of the aircraft on the high tide at 1pm (AEST) today.

"They thought it would take them six hours to get it on the boat and anchored down
before they could return home, and then it is about a 12-hour trip to Gladstone," she
said.

"The reason we waited for high tide was to ensure there was as little damage to the
reef as possible."

She said the reef sustained some damage after the aircraft, commissioned in February,
was dragged by a fishing trawler to anchor it.

"The guy on the trawler thought that was the best idea - to create minimal damage to
the reef," Ms Becker said.

She said the service was happy to assist an Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB)
inquiry, which is expected to start once the wreckage reached Gladstone.

"The pilot has no idea what really happened," Ms Becker said. "The (ATSB) investigation
may shed further light on it."

The rescue service has had three major accidents in four years, including a crash last
July in which five people died.

But Ms Becker said the community-based rescue service, which flies about 300 hours
a year, had a good safety record.

"We are extremely safety conscious and the accidents we have had - none of them could
be attributed to safety," she said.

"It's just an unfortunate thing - part of the industry."

She said the service would use a Queensland Rescue helicopter until it worked out what
was the best option for a replacement aircraft.

AAP pjo/md/br

KEYWORD: REEF NIGHTLEAD

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