US Teen Sailor found by Qantas Airbus A330

[markis10]

The springbok ex Perth left before the A330, it could have carried extra fuel for the divert, established comms the continued on its way, with the A330 as backup. Neither could have done much more than report on the situation and establish comms, better than nothing but not as good as a P3 or dedicated SAR aircraft with drop capability.

I always have a close look at SAR ops when they hit the news because of my past experience working in a RCC, I also had limited involvement in this incident back in 1983 when I was at LTV where mis-information on possible SAR assets meant the loss of lives:

http://www.atsb.gov.au/publications/investigation_reports/1983/aair/pdf/198302284.pdf

Its a very sad tale of things going wrong, poor communications and reliance on past experience rather than checking the actual state of affairs with regard to the assets available, the RPT aircraft lost sight of the survivor 5 minutes before Polair arrived and 12 minutes before NSC arrived are being told to fly to Morabbin to refuel ex LTV. Meanwhile a drop capable F27 sat on the ground in Melbourne and other winch capable assets were dormant at Longford, their status was never checked.

I am sure all was done correctly in this case and obviously the outcome was great, I just had the odd question that continues to niggle .

 

[NM]

The springbok ex Perth left before the A330, it could have carried extra fuel for the divert, established comms the continued on its way, with the A330 as backup. Neither could have done much more than report on the situation and establish comms, better than nothing but not as good as a P3 or dedicated SAR aircraft with drop capability.

What about the C17 (if available)? Could it drop raft/supplies etc? Would expect it would cruise at similar speed to A330 and would expect it to have the range. But being Amberly based would likely mean its not available as quickly as an A330 already located in Perth.

 

[markis10]

The C17 has airdrop capability, not sure if we had availability though. AMSA also had the DO328 available from Aerorescue but they are well short on range maxing out at 1000nm.

 

[Mal]

I've seen some media articles pricing the rescue at around $300K, and the family going "We've got no money".

Shouldn't solo explorers take out insurance to cover rescue costs?

 

[markis10]

I've seen some media articles pricing the rescue at around $300K, and the family going "We've got no money".

Shouldn't solo explorers take out insurance to cover rescue costs?

We are obligated by international law to rescue people at no charge, the same argument was raised with Mr Bullimore many years ago, we all take to the skies or road with the hope that if something goes wrong we will get help, if that help comes I don think there should be a price tag on it.

 

[harvyk]

We are obligated by international law to rescue people at no charge, the same argument was raised with Mr Bullimore many years ago, we all take to the skies or road with the hope that if something goes wrong we will get help, if that help comes I don think there should be a price tag on it.

And yet the strange thing is if I was to have a heart attack right now, the ambulance would come and take me to the hospital, and then present me with a bill for doing so...

It does seem a little strange that they are happy to rescue someone with no ties to this country for free, and yet wouldn't pay to take one of it's citizens to the hospital in an emergency...

Just an observation...

 

[medhead]

And yet the strange thing is if I was to have a heart attack right now, the ambulance would come and take me to the hospital, and then present me with a bill for doing so...

It does seem a little strange that they are happy to rescue someone with no ties to this country for free, and yet wouldn't pay to take one of it's citizens to the hospital in an emergency...

Just an observation...

I good observation but then there is no international treaty to say that you have to get a free ride to the hospital. The ambulance will also
Pick you up without checking if you are able to pay. So money doesn't prevent you from getting an emergency response.

The key thing is of course international treaty obligations. Being lost at sea was determined to be one of those things that is beyond political considerations, borders and citizenship, are not consider when it comes to people dying at sea. And rightly so.

I also beleive that there is nothing to prevent someone from contributing to the cost of their rescue. I'm sure I heard of someone doing that.

 

[markis10]

And yet the strange thing is if I was to have a heart attack right now, the ambulance would come and take me to the hospital, and then present me with a bill for doing so...

It does seem a little strange that they are happy to rescue someone with no ties to this country for free, and yet wouldn't pay to take one of it's citizens to the hospital in an emergency...

Just an observation...

You need to move to QLD, no ambulance charges here so long as you dont have an electricity account