Don't shine torch light at Northland rescue helicopter in flight, pilot urges

Pilot Sam Murtagh asks people not to shine torches at helicopters while they are flying. Photo / Supplied

An experienced rescue helicopter pilot has warned people not to shine torch lights at the aircraft during flights, following an unscheduled landing that delayed the crew for a medical callout.

The Northland Rescue Helicopter crew were called to a patient at Whangaruru, who was needing medical attention about 11pm on April 19.

Operations manager and the pilot for the callout Sam Murtagh said there was no dedicated landing zone at the property and there were no emergency services available to prepare a site.

Murtagh said sometimes finding the correct house at night could be challenging, and flight crews often advised people on the scene to use their vehicle hazard lights or torches to help locate the correct location.

In other cases local volunteer fire brigades would help guide the crew into a site using their lighting systems and point out any nearby hazards.

Unfortunately during the callout on Sunday, the occupants of a property near the expected scene were shining torches at the helicopter and the pilots landed, assuming they were the ones who needed medical attention.

It was not the case and delayed the helicopter crew getting to the correct location.

"We ask that the public do not shine torches at the helicopter when we are flying as this sends us the wrong signal," Murtagh said.

"We have night vision goggles which makes any light very obvious to us."

The patient was successfully collected and flown to Whangārei Hospital.

The crews have been busy in the air flying 59 missions between March 26 and April 19.

Half of the calls for help were described as primary, while the rest were transferring patients from hospital to hospital.

One of the patients was a pregnant woman with complications who was transported from Whangārei Hospital to North Shore Hospital.

Other patients transported by helicopter included those who had suffered from seizures, burns, major trauma and cardiac arrest.

On April 12 a man was flown from a rural property north of Pakotai to Whangārei Hospital after he was injured in a tractor rollover.