Helicopter Mission Types
The Westpac Rescue Helicopter flies a variety of air rescue and air ambulance missions.
Ambulance Missions
The Westpac Rescue Helicopter responds to accidents and medical emergencies when speed is essential or when the accident or emergency occurs in a remote or difficult location.
The helicopter is large enough to carry two stretcher patients, yet small enough to land in confined areas. We often land on one side of a state highway or on residential streets.
When the helicopter is unable to land (e.g. at sea or in the bush), a specially trained paramedic is lowered from the helicopter on our rescue winch. Once they stabilise the patient, both are winched back into the helicopter and the patient is transported to hospital.
Upon arrival at Wellington Hospital, the helicopter lands on the roof and patients can be in the Emergency Department in under 90 seconds.
Wellington Free Ambulance intensive care paramedics provide the medical care on all ambulance missions undertaken by our helicopter.
Inter-Hospital Transfers
Many patients need specialist medical care or equipment located at a hospital outside their local areas. The Life Flight Westpac Rescue Helicopter is used for inter-hospital transfers when speed is critical.
The helicopter picks up critically ill patients from Blenheim, Nelson, Masterton, Palmerston North, Wanganui and New Plymouth and transports them to tertiary hospitals. When a patient's condition
requires it the helicopter can fly a diver suffering from the bends or a spinal
injury patient directly to Christchurch for specialist care not available in Wellington.
It is equipped as a mobile intensive care unit and carries much of the equipment that is available in a hospital. Onboard patient care is handled by specialist flight nurses and doctors from Capital & Coast District Health Board trained in aviation medicine and intensive care.
Neonatal Transfers
The advanced care required for premature babies can only be found in a few hospitals around the country.
A premature baby can weigh less than 1kg (the normal birth weight for a full-term baby is 3.5kg). Their tiny heart and lungs can struggle to survive and thrive. Fortunately our air ambulances and Westpac Rescue Helicopter can be equipped with special baby incubators. Find more information on the incubators here.
On these missions we carry a doctor and a specially trained flight nurse. Premature babies stay at hospital until they are old enough and well enough to go home, or able to be cared for in their local hospital.
Baby Nadia had a birth weight of only 965 grams – read Nadia’s story here.
Search and Rescue
When people are lost at sea or in the bush, the Westpac Rescue Helicopter is often called in to search for them, and rescue them once they are found. Many of these missions involve searching for scuba divers who get caught up in Cook Strait's unpredictable rips and end up being swept far away from their buddies, their boats or the shore.
Searching from a helicopter for a person lost at sea or in the bush is as challenging as searching for a needle in a haystack. Life Flight uses advanced technology, which assists the search and improves the likelihood of locating the person. We also work closely with New Zealand Police and/or Wellington Search and Rescue team members during many of these searches.
Police or Bomb Squad
With no dedicated Police helicopter in Wellington, Life Flight’s Westpac Rescue Helicopter is used for various missions when required. Police dogs are trained to be comfortable in the helicopter and dangling from the winch with their handlers!
We also work with the New Zealand Army’s bomb squad to transport its bomb robot from Trentham. These robots are operated by remote control and can investigate suspect packages or pick up devices without endangering humans.
Beacon Searching
All aircraft, many boats and some trampers carry 'emergency locator beacons', which can be used to help find them if they get in trouble. These beacons can be tracked using the special equipment on the Westpac Rescue Helicopter.
The signal is initially picked up by satellite and, once the approximate location of the signal is determined to be in our area, the National Rescue Coordination Centre dispatches the helicopter to locate the source.
Fire-Fighting
Helicopters are used to fight large fires because they can drop large quantities of water and get into areas that are too dangerous for, or inaccessible to ground fire-fighters. Our BK117 can lift up to 1,000 litres of water in a monsoon bucket that hangs below the helicopter.
During most fires we add 'fire-suppression foam' to the water that is dropped on the fire. This is dispersed into the water using a unit fitted into the back of the helicopter.
Although helicopters usually get TV coverage during a large fire, we want to acknowledge the ground fire-fighters who spend hours or days fighting these fires. These people, many of them volunteers, are there long after the last helicopter leaves, ensuring that the fire is well and truly out.
Other Missions
From time to time the Westpac Rescue Helicopter is used for other types of missions. Generally we will undertake missions that will save life or property (we do not undertake commercial work). An example of this type of mission was a request from a local council to use our monsoon bucket to drop water to help dislodge a rock face that was causing danger to the traffic below.
Help Life Flight save lives.
