The bulk of activity is associated with accident and medical emergencies, transporting patients on behalf of the Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) and the Ministry of Health, plus interhospital transfers to Dunedin or Invercargill Hospitals.
Trust associated helicopters assist the NZ Police and the New Zealand Rescue Coordination Centre by locating and recovering personnel lost either on land or at sea. Specialist crews and electronic aids homing on locator beacons are utilised to effect rapid assistance.
Our "Eldart" Ten-person Rescue Net can be used for water rescue in rafting and boating accidents, alpine rescue for injured climbers, and transporting numbers of searchers into remote bushland where landing options are marginal. If an avalanche occurs, we will be called on to move searchers into alpine regions quickly to remove victims to medical care without delay
LDART has provided beacon trackers and ongoing training for the operators and Search and Rescue teams to locate and repatriate people in distress who have activated their Personal Locator beacons (PLB’s, Emergency position indicating Beacons (EPIRB’s) and Electronic Location Transmitter (ELT’S) as reported by the NZ Rescue Coordination Centre.
Due to the high level of adventure activity in the area, the operators utilise the services of specially trained mountaineers and white water retrieval experts all of whom are familiar and current with helicopter operations.
Lakes District Air Rescue Trust were pleased to receive the TrustPower Community Award Overall Winner for 2001 in the Queenstown Lakes District Business Community. We acknowledge the great service TrustPower do for communities throughout New Zealand with these awards and thank them for recognizing our efforts.
