When John Oakes watched a helicopter crash in front of him near the Amery Ice Shelf in the Antarctic, he drew on his 26 years' experience with North Otago Search and Rescue to immediately help.
On December 3, 2013, he was piloting a support helicopter chartered by the Australian Antarctic Division, returning from a mission to survey a penguin colony, when the helicopter in front of him went down in white-out conditions.
About 150 nautical miles from their base of Davis Station, he landed nearby and with his passenger gave first aid to those trapped and injured. They kept them warm and sheltered for 24 hours until the weather cleared and they could be transferred to the Davis Station medical facility.
''We were so far away from base and it was such a big change [in weather],'' he said.
''It was a bad crevasse area, which is why the aeroplanes couldn't land and help us straight away, so we had to fly them out and we had to wait for the weather window to be able to do that.''
When the weather cleared, Mr Oakes flew two of the injured 60 nautical miles to where a plane could safely meet them. He then returned to the crash site with a doctor and an engineer to fly the last injured Australian woman back to base. Mr Oakes, who owns Herbert-based Central South Island Helicopters with his wife, Bruna Oakes, has been involved with North Otago Search and Rescue since 1988, and is always on standby for an emergency.
''I've plucked quite a few people out of the sea, off the mountains, so for that to happen down there I was probably the right person to be there,'' he said.
For the most part, he was able to keep his head throughout the rescue.
''When we were stuck there for 24 hours, about four o'clock in the morning sitting on the ice shelf 200 miles away from anywhere, I thought `I wonder how long we're going to be here for?','' he said.
''We had a six-hour weather window to get them out and it went to plan and we got them out.
''Otherwise we would've been there for another three days or so.''
It was comprehensive training and team planning with North Otago SAR that made that situation ''a whole lot smoother'', he said.
''I ended up in that SAR situation down there and all the local North Otago SAR work helped to achieve a good outcome - everybody got home safely.''
Australian Environment Minister Greg Hunt commended the rescuers for the ''outstanding'' efforts, skill and courage they displayed during the rescue.
The rescue was successful due to precise planning and thorough care, he said.
Before the crash, Mr Oakes had been in the Antarctic for two months, working for the Australian Antarctic Division as helicopter support for Davis Station. His work involved flights to very isolated places, reachable only by helicopter, to assist in scientific studies.
The trip was quite enlightening, he said, citing the efforts to measure climate change and study penguin colonies as particularly interesting.
''The other thing that intrigued me down there, aside from the accident, was going to the Chinese, Russian and Indian bases, seeing all of their new buildings and power plants,'' he said.
Three years ago, Mr Oakes was involved with the Macquarie Island Pest Eradication Project, but two and a-half months' flying in the Antarctic was an even more eye-opening experience.
''Flying down there is very interesting with the wild weather,'' he said.
''We couldn't believe it how sometimes you couldn't even find your way around the camp - weather was that extreme.''
The crash on December 3 cut Mr Oakes' Antarctic expedition short and he returned to New Zealand for Christmas.
Another Central South Island Helicopters pilot, Bryan Beck, has since gone to the Antarctic, helping fly supplies to Mawson Base Station.
''He's having a real experience too,'' Mr Oakes said.
''He's been in 14-15m seas getting down there. Sounds like a bit of a challenge.''
- Rebecca Ryan.
