Fuming emergency services are considering whether to prosecute a tramper who set off his emergency beacon because he was apparently running late and wanted a helicopter ride to his car.
The man, in his 60s, was tramping in South Westland and set off the beacon on Thursday afternoon.
At a cost of about $10,000 the Solid Energy Rescue Helicopter flew from Greymouth, only to find the man was fine, Maritime New Zealand (MNZ) said on Friday.
MNZ's Nigel Clifford says if the man set off the beacon simply because he was running late, then it was entirely inappropriate, potentially dangerous, and a clear breach of the beacon rules.
The helicopter was tied up for two-and-a-half hours, he said.
"That aircraft was unavailable for any other genuine emergency that may have arisen."
Penalties for the mis-use of beacons range from a formal warning, infringement notice penalty of $250 and prosecution, which carries a maximum fine of $30,000.
MNZ is considering what action to take over the tramper.
"While the decision to activate a beacon is one that only the person carrying it can make, depending on their circumstances, it is not a decision that should be taken lightly. It is certainly not a taxi service," Mr Clifford said.
True, doesn't sound very cool, but it depends how late he was going to be. If he was going to be a day late then there would have been a search launched anyway which may have cost more than one chopper flying straight to him...?? Recently had this debate with my better half, it's a tricky one. My personal thoughts were / are that plb's are for when you can't get yourself out i.e. injured but there's always a grey area
IP Logged
Chris B
Online Forum Guide Donor Member Staff
Offline
Posts: 1795
Location: Palmy North
Joined: Sep 3rd, 2007
Gender:
Re: Not 1 of us I hope Reply #2 - Feb 8th, 2013 at 3:18pm
If he was not injured or in mortal danger then I dont think he should have used the Plb, but we dont know how his mind was working at the time. As an aside, I am obviously in the wrong line of work if it actually cost $10, 000 to use the chopper for 2 and half hours.
There`s still time to change the road your on.
IP Logged
wobblyboot
Forum Senior
Offline
whose that following me
Posts: 693
Location: canterbury
Joined: Jan 6th, 2008
Gender:
Re: Not 1 of us I hope Reply #8 - Feb 8th, 2013 at 4:56pm
In the Stuff article it says he is a tramper from Nelson who has written books on the subject. Given his age of 67 that makes it fairly easy to work out who the plonker is. On the debate of use, my view is that being overdue is not a reason to activate. Along with that your contact person should have a discussion with you regarding weather, rivers, routes etc so that if you are held up by a flooded river then not too much alarm is generated. After 24 hours this would be revised and police notified. This has worked for me when I was overdue saving a search, and has worked when I was the contact person for a couple of climbers overdue on Sabre. Police were notified and they waited another 24 hours before commencing search. That was based on what the weather was doing.
only dirty people wash
IP Logged
sikahunter
Full Member
Offline
Hunt or be hunted!!
Posts: 230
Location: Christchurch
Joined: Nov 11th, 2006
Gender:
Re: Not 1 of us I hope Reply #9 - Feb 8th, 2013 at 4:58pm
Charge him. They are for life threatening emergencies only!! If you are only going to be a day late then thats fine, everyone will get over it. I heard a similar story in fiordland where some turkey was to tired to walk out so packed his gear then set off the beacon and waited for a chopper ride out!
IP Logged
Hughesy
Forum Senior
Offline
Posts: 533
Location: Here and there
Joined: Sep 7th, 2009
Gender:
Re: Not 1 of us I hope Reply #10 - Feb 8th, 2013 at 5:05pm
Charge him! Heard of a family on the Milford track who set the Beacon off at night. Pilots couldn't get to the site so the had to land half km up track and walk down. Family decided they couldn't cross river and didn't know what to do. Despite having tents!! Wtf!!!! They got told to stay the night and walk out the next day the way they came in. They were not far from the start either!! Muppets!
IP Logged
fletty
Forum Senior
Offline
I Love The FishNhunt Forum
Posts: 701
Location: Waimate
Joined: Jun 7th, 2009
Gender:
Re: Not 1 of us I hope Reply #11 - Feb 8th, 2013 at 5:10pm
what a knob, two years ago i took my missus hunting up mavora and she slipped down a bank and broke her ankle. we had they same debate up on the mountain about weatha she could make it back or risk calling out the chopper when someone could of fallen off a bluff somewhere and be in critical condition who will need it more, in the end we limped for three hours back to the truck. i will only use mine if im dying or worse(haha). but yea its a hard one like the others said not enough info!