During April, Todd and Adam were choppered in to one of Lakeland Aviations private blocks with a hut in the Tauranga Taupo river area of the Kaimanawa Forest Park  for a week of deer hunting.

Adam had walked about a kilometer up river late afternoon to hopefully get a shot at some deer coming out on a clearing they’d spotted earlier on.

It was about a quarter of an hour after dark when Todd saw the torch light approaching from up river and  heard a commotion. He thought it was Adam yelling at him to come and help carry a kill back. As he got closer he could hear the urgency in Adams shouts for help and when he got to him found that Adam had accidently shot himself in the foot as he picked up his gun after a long session of waiting for a deer to show.

The 800m walk in close to freezing water had helped block the pain and control the bleeding but once they got to the hut and removed the boot the full extent of the injury was apparent. The bullet had entered the inside of the  instep of the left foot and smashed through the metatarsals before exiting the outside of the foot, leaving torn flesh and bone in its wake.

Todd immediately activated his MCMURDO FF211 PLB, leaving it out on the deck area with a clear view of the sky.  An hour later they heard the SAR chopper and were relieved at the rapid response from the rescue crew.

When talking to the chopper crew they said that with the night vision goggles on they could see the flashing SOS LED on the PLB from over 5km away and the that co-ordinates were right on at the hut.

Todd  has had his PLB tested and the top cover replaced by Bright Ideas ELB and is telling every hunter he knows to get a PLB  because you never know when you’re going to need it.

We were 4 days into an 8 day tramping / climbing trip in the Lewis Pass / Nelson Lakes National Park area.

Party of four friends – very experienced; we had raced in multiday adventure races like the Southern Traverse in past years with some success and tramped together often.

I was the oldest at 65 but in good shape.  My wife had given me a McMurdo PLB as a Christmas present 2 years earlier – a little to my bemusement – why would I need something like that!

The planned tramp was at the “hard” end of the range – 4 alpine passes over 1800 metres and weather permitting, a couple of peaks in the 2000-2500 m range.  I had my PLB along…..

Unstable weather patterns had affected our plan but by day 4 we had Three Tarn and Durville Passes behind us and were doing a long traverse over steep unstable scree slopes around to Thompson Pass.  The forecast was for a front to come in late in the day and cloud patterns confirmed it was coming.  We were keen to get over the pass before the cloud came down – the approaches aren’t the easiest in the world.  We were moving well over the difficult scree – falling every now and then as the rock plates moved but never concerned about safety.   I stepped on a plate that pivoted me downhill and launched me running down the steep slope with a heavyish pack on my back……..the inevitable outcome was a heavy downhill fall on the sharp rock plates resulting in a severe, long laceration to the right knee exposing the kneecap and tendons, a major bang on the left knee that promptly swelled to the size of a football and accompanying lacerations to the legs and head. I fairly promptly went into shock – cold and shivering.  Given the steep, exposed nature of the location,  the  impending weather conditions and my inability to walk there was little hesitation in activating the PLB.

Not necessarily convinced anyone would come the team made preparations for a (highly unpleasant)  night out on the on the exposed slope.  To our absolute relief approximately an hour and half after setting off the beacon we heard a helicopter through the low cloud and rain………Without boring you too much the copter dropped a paramedic who made his way to us and got me winched out.

Key things:

• We weren’t involved in anything particularly dangerous – accidents can happen anytime
• We were in a remote location ~ 2 days walk from nearest road
• We had a PLB with us
• It worked!
• Response time from setting off beacon to departure of chopper was approx 1 hour

Conclusions

• The PLB was potentially a life saver
• At worst it significantly reduced the chance of incurring a leg disability

Thompson Pass from Durville Pass – the accident happened on the steep scree slopes in the right centre of the picture

A very welcome sight – a very professional and capable crew

A welcome result in poor conditions…….

Hi Alan

The following is the basic account of what happen to as last week 14/10/10 and why the Fast Find Beacon was activated.

On the 14/10/10 we were out form Marokapa about 20km south of Kawhia on the West Coast trying to catch some fish, during that time our engine on our boat had a mechanical problem, due to the nature of the problem (electrical) our engine would not start also our radio at that time would not go. We tried to get the motor started with what little resources we had, but were unsuccessful. At this time I knew the only thing I could do was activate my Fast Find Beacon, (I am a person that does a lot of fishing and hunting and I carry the beacon were ever I go).

Once the beacon was activated we then tried getting the radio going, to our amazement it went. We got hold of the Taranaki Marine Coast Guard who informed us what to do and that we were showing up on his screen through the beacon. He radioed for a boat in Kawhia and it was on its way to get us. 3 hours later from when the beacon was activated we were on the rescue boat on our way to safety.

The Coast Guard that performed the rescue said, that we had one of the most Important things on our boat (the beacon) because once it was activated it informed them of the 2 most important things A: That we need help and B: Our location.

In conclusion I am happy that I purchased the beacon, at the time of purchase I thought it was expensive however after this experience I feel my life is worth much more then the cost of the beacon. It is a awesome peace of equipment.

Cheers
Tahu

Hi Alan,

As you will be quite aware that I had to use my personal locator beacon in the Otehake River, Arthurs Pass National Park.

I was carrying a McMurdo Fast Find GPS model PLB, it is small, light and very easy to use.  The incident happened in the riverbed where a tramping companion fell concussing himself, breaking his arm in several places and severely bruising many ribs.  It took approximately 2 hours for the rescue helicopter to pick him up (due to two other incidents needing the helicopter with in a few minutes of our activation).  “I can thoroughly recommend carrying a beacon to all people who are going into the back country.  The initial purchase cost is very minimal when a friends life is involved.”

Thank you for checking and sending the beacon back to me.

Regards,

Wayne

A walker in the Ruahine mountain range in New Zealand was rescued on Sunday after he activated his Fast Find Personal Locator Beacon (PLB) to alert search and rescue services to his plight. The man was starting a 10 day trip when he fell into a hole filled with water and snow. He quickly became cold, disorientated and activated his Fast Find PLB.

The Fast Find sent a signal via satellite to Rescue Co-ordination Centre in Wellington, which dispatched the Lowe Corporation Rescue Helicopter. According to the Hawkes Bay Today newspaper, Pilot Brent Williams said the man had been proactive in using his personal locator beacon.

The man had bunkered down in his sleeping bag while he waited for help. “He felt pretty bad about using the beacon but thought he had better,” Mr Williams said. “He couldn’t feel his feet when we got there.”

Mr Williams said the Fast Find 406MHz beacon had made finding the man easy.

The Fast Find 211 is the smallest PLBs available on the market, and can be carried in a pocket or backpack. It can be used anywhere in the world providing it is registered by the buyer before it gets used. The distress signal is relayed by the COSPAS-SARSAT international government Search and Rescue satellite system, decoded and then relayed to the national authority which will co-ordinate the rescue, in this case Wellington, NZ. The climber had bought the Fast Find from Aviation Safety.

From: Maurice & Ngaire
To: alan@brightideas.co.nz
Sent: Friday, October 15, 2010 3:42 PM
Subject: PLB

Hi Alan

I’ve just been speaking to Stephen at Southern Ocean Safety in Bluff regarding my son’s Personal Locator Beacon which he activated last Saturday night.  I believe we can send it to you for servicing.
My son and two friends (aged 28,  29 & 30) were fishing on Lake Manapouri during Saturday afternoon in good weather. Their boat broke down and despite their best efforts they couldn’t get it restarted. The wind then got up quite strong and blew the boat to shore and they managed to get out and drag it up onto a rocky beach area.
By then it was getting dark and there was no way off the beach to walk to safety without swimming the Waiau River (not a good idea),  or heading off through bush and swamp to try to get out.  So after considering all options, which were fairly limited and being aware that the weather forecast was bad for that area, they decided to activate the beacon.  Two hours later a local rescue helicopter arrived and picked them up,  so they were very fortunate.

I will package the beacon up and courier it to you on Monday.

Kind regards

Ngaire

PLB aids rescue during flash-flood on the Heaphy Track

I was tramping the Heaphy track with my sister. I have carted this PLB to all sorts of out of the way places with me, hoping never to have to activate it.  It has been sailing to the bottom of Stewart Island, off to the Whitsundays, and on all my tramping journeys.
We got caught in a flash flood, one moment walking in knee deep dirty water arms inter linked, next washed off the track into the Heaphy river, with our packs still on. We couldn’t get our feet under us with the current, as our packs wanted to turn us onto our backs. I managed to grab a flax bush leaf thinking that what I did in the next few moments would mean life or death. As I moved along the bush I reached out and pulled my sister along using a tramping stick I carried. We struggled back to firm ground only to be washed off our feet again. We were clinging to a punga tree and there was a small flat area across from us, where I thought the current would take me. I went for it, and used the stick to guide my sister across. We were only six inches above the water level. I pulled the PLB before we climbed higher as I did not think we’d activate the satellites under the bluff, and the area was too small to be sustainable overnight. If we stayed where we were and the river continued to rise at the same rate we would not of survived.

Injuries – hypothermia, shock and very badly blistered feet. The chopper arrived, medic examined my feet and decided I needed hospital treatment anyway. I can now hobble on one foot. I am very happy to be alive and pleased I had the PLB.

Wendy C.