At 4:15pm on Friday 2 February 2007, our Tamworth aircraft B407 was travelling at 120 knots at 2,000 metres enroute to a serious motor vehicle accident at the New England township of Warialda, east of Moree. On board was Pilot David Davies, Aircrew Officer Jamie Yeo, Doctor Chris Trethewy and Critical Care Paramedic Stuart Harris.
When just 10 minutes from Warialda, a warning light appeared on the aircraft’s instrument panel, followed seconds later by a loud ‘bang’, vibration and loss of engine power.
A helicopter without power still functions as an autogyro, where the passage of air over the rotor blades still provides the pilot with some level of control. Pilot Davies began an emergency landing, conducting an ‘auto-rotation’ to the ground. Whilst doing his best to control the aircraft, Davies sent out a Mayday call and commenced briefing the rest of the crew on the planned descent. Then, as they continued to descend, Davies and Aircrew Officer Jamie Yeo scoured the landscape for somewhere clear of obstacles where it would be safe to land.
Davies then began to reduce the forward speed from 120 knots to 70 knots – the velocity that gave the slowest rate of descent. On approach, a low set of power lines resulted in Davies taking corrective action and ‘flaring’ the rotor disk to use what little rpm available to turn the aircraft and lift over the powerlines.
The resultant evasive action saw our aircraft touch down heavily, causing the tail rotor to shear off. Still with forward momentum, the aircraft tipped onto its nose before rolling onto its side and coming to a stop.
Stu and Chris were uninjured and climbed out of the sliding door before assisting Jamie and Dave out through the top of the aircraft.
Pilot Dave, before being assisted out, looked above him at Aircrew Officer Jamie suspended securely in his seat and advised him not to release his four-point harness! Meanwhile, Jamie had received superficial injuries that appeared worse than they were.
“When we hit the ground, I headbutted the moving map screen that I was holding and split the bridge of my nose, resulting in a bit of blood but nothing serious,” said Jamie.
While the aircraft was extensively damaged, all four crewmembers walked away unscathed. Within minutes of the hard landing, the crew were joined by half a dozen locals, ready to assist in any way they could.
After checking no one was injured, Doctor Trethewy and Paramedic Harris told Davies he could ‘keep the keys to the aircraft’ and the pair hitched a ride with a local farmer to the scene of the motor vehicle accident.
Reflecting on the incident, Jamie said, “I feel very grateful for Dave’s flying ability. He got us over the power lines, and we all walked away. It goes to show how integral our training is to maintain the highest level of operational excellence and safety.”
“The big thing isn’t that I got the chopper down safely – that’s what we are trained to do,” Davies said, “The big thing was that despite the circumstances of our own crash, the medical team went on and did the job we were tasked to do.”
The two once on scene at the accident, helped treat seven gravely injured car crash victims.
“For Chris and Stuart to come out of that and then go on was truly heroic,” said Davies.
“In the wake of the incident, the Lismore service loaned us a helicopter and Pilots for a month, and we were back online the following Tuesday,” Jamie said.