Cliff-face rescue at fifth attempt

Press, 29 December 1981, Page 2

Cliff-face rescue at fifth attempt

PA Auckland A Kaitaia helicopter pilot hovered only two metres from a cliff face as he rescued a badly injured Auckland man on the isolated coastline near Spirits Bay yesterday morning. It took Mr Max Donnelly five attempts — after fighting darkness, rising tides, sea fog, and high winds — to get the injured man aboard and fly him to Kaitaia Hospital where he has been reported in a satisfactory condition. Mr Donnelly yesterday recalled the incident as “pretty dangerous” and one which he would “rather do without.” Mr Donnelly was first called out at 8.15 p.m. on Sunday after a land party had been unable to rescue Mr Adrian van den Dop, aged 26, who had fallen about 50m down a cliff on Te Paki station, near Cape Reinga. Mr van den Dop suffered compound fractures of a leg and lacerations and could not be moved back up the cliff. It was 9 p.m. before Mr Donnelly was able to leave Kaitaia and another 45 minutes before he reached the spot, by which time it was completely dark, the tide was full, and high winds made any flying difficult. “There was no beach, the place was really inaccessible. It was almost full tide at that stage, and so I hovered on one rock while an ambulanceman (who had been lowered down the cliff) tried to get the stretcher into the helicopter." At the fifth attempt Mr Donnelly managed to hover on the rocks which had just been exposed by the receding tide. “It was windy at the time and the only way I could hover initially was to put my tail into the wind, which is a really bad situation.” The rotor of the James Aviation Hiller 12E helicopter was just 2m from the cliff during the rescue.