Dangling above Otago Harbour during a winch exercise is an Otago Regional Rescue Helicopter flight paramedic.
Port Otago tug Arihi motored up and down the upper harbour between Steamer Basin and the Ravensdown wharf yesterday afternoon as flight paramedics were winched down then hauled back up.
PHOTO: GERARD O'BRIEN
Heli Otago operations manager Kevin Gale said winch currency training happened every 90 days, while a competency check was undertaken each year. "We're just practising putting our medics on to a ship."
The exercise ended prematurely when a rescue helicopter was deployed after a mechanical issue forced a plane down in the hills above the Lake Benmore Holiday Park - but it was later found the aircraft landed safely and St John was stood down.
