Chopper crash training crucial in trio’s survival
The crew who survived the Auckland Islands helicopter crash have credited their training for escaping alive.
St John paramedic John Lambeth, who along with winchman Lester Stevens and pilot Andrew Hefford, ditched in icy sub-Antarctic waters on Monday night, said the training kicked in within seconds of crashing.
He closed his eyes to orientate himself and unbuckled his seatbelt. It was dark and the water flooded the cabin fast, he said.
He pulled his headset out and pushed himself up. There was a moment of panic and he thought he was going to drown.
As soon as he took a breath he felt confident he would survive.
Lambeth said his training enabled him to close out distractions and concentrate on getting out of the chopper.
“It was that training that pulled us through this without a doubt.”
Lambeth said he didn’t even have time to think about the chopper blades.
Once out of the chopper he started shouting to find the others. Hefford helped him to free Stevens, who had passed out.
There was a slight light from a chopper cabin light and then it went completely dark.
They could see the silhouette of a cliff face of the Auckland Islands about 100m away.
On land they climbed over kelp and on to rocks. They paused to refocus. Stevens had a bleeding nose, his shoulder was “displaced” and not functioning well. By then he was coherent, said Lambeth, who was battling a fractured rib.
“We thought ‘we’re going to survive this’.”
At shore there were huge cliff faces and they discussed which way to go.
They spent up to 40 minutes climbing over kelp and rocks and clinging on at the bottom of a cliff face. Hefford remembered he had a head torch, got it out and it worked.
Their cold water immersion survival suits were the difference between life and death.
The trio spent about an hour navigating the foot of the rockface — battling through the kelp was “hell”.
They got to a creek, followed it and made camp. Lambeth said they knew a rain band was coming. They were wet and warm in their suits.
They found a concave log, cut sticks and put vegetation on the top and ferns underneath and hunkered down for the night.
Lambeth said they knew they were going to get out of their predicament. They noticed an Air Force Orion was flying overhead during the night.
Hefford, the Southern Lakes Helicopters pilot, said his first reaction in the crash was to panic a bit, with mouthfuls of sea water. The helicopter’s door was gone.
He initially forgot to undo his seatbelt, then coughed and spluttered and yelled out, asking who was alive.
The trio were discovered the next morning by Southern Lakes Helicopters owner Sir Richard “Hannibal” Hayes. “I never thought I would get a hug from my boss,” Hefford said.