Re: SER1 Fwd: [lro] Maintenance, Planning

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I agree.

Being a member of a volunteer emergency service in NSW, Australia for the 
past 22 odd years, we are trained to go out and look for these "people" when 
they become lost. Mostly in NSW, its bushwalkers who under estimate their 
travelling time and or get lost.

The best one that I have attended is a lost and stranded 4WD.

The owner (of a Toyota Landcruiser trayback) just finished putting in a 
turbo for the engine and decided to go for a test drive with his best mate - 
his dog.

Sunday morning, drizzle rain, drove through a creek crossing at the bottom 
of a mountain and up the other side, which he said was up a little. Coming 
home later that day, been raining all day, had to come back through the same 
creek crossing. As he had driven through it in the morning, thought it would 
be OK to drive back through - WRONG.

7pm - Just sitting down for dinner, a cold beer and a footy game. Get the 
call to go find this guy. Finally found him, 3 1/2 hours later, wet, cold 
and a little bit humble, but at least he stayed with (or in this case, close 
by) the vehicle.

As it turned out, as he drove through the crossing, the water was a little 
higher then he thought and had a bit of flow to it. The vehicle ended up 
being sweeped 10 metres down stream until it was stopped by a tree across 
the creek. He got out ok but said he went back in as the dog was still in 
the car.

All we could see of the vehicle when we got there was 1/4 of the roof 
directly above passanger seat, the spotties on the trays running board 
behind the cabin and nothing else, except the bits of 8mm poly rope that was 
tied to the vehicle and some trees on the back. I'm not sure if they were 
being used as securing ropes or guide ropes in case the whole vehicle went 
under.

After assessing everything to ensure that he was OK, his first question was 
"can you retreive my vehicle for me tonight?"

You can image what was running through our mind at 11.00pm on a Sunday 
night!!!!!

Instead, we asked "Are you insured" "Yes" was the reply, "Then ring your 
insurance company in the morning" was our reply.

At which we left the vehicle where it was and proceeded to drive out up a 
nice slippery hill, having to use the winch on 1 occassion, so that we could 
get home, rescue something out of dinner and get some sleep before heading 
to work the next day.

So, there are a lot of people out there who think they know what they are 
doing, but just go ahead and do it anyway and throw the handbook out the 
window.

I'm also a 4WD Instructor and I use this story as a good example of what not 
to do.

Shane Allison
1950 S1
Gosford, NSW
Australia

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Diana Alan" <dianaa@xxxxxxxx.xxx.xx>
To: <series1@xxxxxxxxx.xxx>
Sent: Wednesday, April 13, 2005 1:03 AM
Subject: Re: SER1 Fwd: [lro] Maintenance, Planning


> Hi Guys
>
> What you thought one wouldn't rise to the challenge.  What's very spooky 
> is
> that I mentioned exactly this situation to Nick Condon a couple of days 
> ago.
>
> Now let me get my disaster management hat on.  "Before I talk about the
> emergency services response, I must express my sincere condolences to the
> relatives and loved ones of these two unfortunate individuals.  However 
> what
> I must say now is that the xxxx are working very xxxx to bring resolution 
> to
> this xxxxx as quickly as possible".  (Does that sound like the comments 
> from
> sincere Police/Emergency/Medical spokespersons you have heard on TV? 
> That's
> because that is what they train us to do!)
>
> According to Police interviewed after forensic investigation of the scene,
> the vehicle was over 30 years old and wasn't roadworthy, although I hope
> that the first premise wasn't the justification for the second.  On this
> list there some 55 years plus vehicles that are extremelly roadworthy and
> possibly more so than very much younger vehicles.  The last line of Bob's
> post says it all, "after setting out without enough petrol and water".
>
> It seems these idiots broke so many of the cardinal rules of outback 
> travel
> they planned to fail by failing to plan.
> * Who did they tell where they were going? And what was the ETA for return
> contact?  (It is usual to lodge a trip plan with the Police for very 
> remote
> travel a bit like a flight plan aircraft must lodge.)
> * Where was their reserve of fuel?
> * Where was their reserve of water?
> * Where were their emergency rations?
> * Where was their map?
> * Where was their compass?
> * Where was their communications devices? HF Flying Doctor radio, 
> Satellite
> phone or even SSB CB Radio.
> * Where were their other other navigational aids?  GPS etc.
> * Where was their reliable vehicle and spares?
>
> It seems these pair had none of the above just a lot of ego and stupidity.
> Had they had any of the above we wouldn't be talking about it now.
>
> What it does remind us is how different the use of our Landy's is between
> this big island Australia and that little island England.  There is no AA
> call boxes at the side of the road to summon help and people die trying to
> walk out.
>
> Regards
> Diana
>
>
>
> To change subscription see www.landrover.net/series1/mail
>
> 


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