Nearly 700 flights and five years of service on the south coast was celebrated by the Moruya-based Westpac Life Saver helicopter on Tuesday, December 1.
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The crews are heading into their sixth summer of keeping a birds eye view on South Coast waters.
In its first year of operation, the helicopter only operated for three months throughout summer. However, since October 2011 it has been a full-time service along the coast.
Since it started flying on the South Coast, the helicopter, Lifesaver 23, has undertaken 698 flights.
“These flights are a wide range of rescue missions and cover a huge area of NSW,” Westpac Life Saver Helicopter CEO, Stephen Leahy.
“Over the past five years, not only has the helicopter supported the local community of the NSW South Coast but it has been sent to many other parts of the state when there have been natural disasters.
“We’ve been as far south as Mallacoota in Victoria, across to Wagga Wagga several times, and up to Grafton and Lismore. The teams are equally as skilled working on the coast as they are in remote areas of western NSW.
“The helicopter is regularly called upon to assist emergency services in the search and rescue of people missing in the bush and snowfields, fisherman who have been swept off rocks or fallen overboard their boat and assisting people who are trapped in floodwaters.”
The distinctive red and yellow helicopter is regularly seen flying along the beaches, undertaking regular coastal surveillance patrols on behalf of Surf Life Saving NSW.
“These flights look for people swimming in remote locations, well away from patrolled beaches, fisherman in potentially dangerous places and boats that might be crossing bars or fishing near known blackspots,” Mr Leahy said.
“Crews also keep a look-out for sharks or anything that might attract sharks such as large schools of fish.
“As the NSW South Coast continues to grow and tourism increases, we recognise the need to support the community with aerial surveillance and rapid aerial rescue capabilities, especially in remote locations.”
The service has a strong partnership with Westpac, as well as the NSW state government to make sure it stays in the skies.
“Without their support and the generosity of the local community, we would not be able to provide this service,” Me Leahy said.
