Aerial Search and Rescue

The recent devastating flooding in KwaZulu-Natal, in which over 400 people have died, has once again highlighted South Africa's deficiency in terms of aerial search and rescue aircraft.

- By Darren Olivier

THE COUNTRY NOW has available only a fraction of the capacity that it had as recently as ten years ago thanks to years of under-funding.

Despite facing the likelihood of both more frequent and more devastating natural disasters in the future as a result of climate change, we have continued to allow our capabilities in disaster response to degrade. If current trends continue it won’t be long before we’re unable to provide any state-owned rescue helicopters for a disaster at all. So, it’s important to recognise the risk and implement steps to reverse this trend.

Although the South African Air Force (SAAF) has since been able to contribute a handful of Oryx, A109, and BK117 helicopters to the rescue and recovery efforts in KwaZulu-Natal, it has had to do so by gathering both the aircraft and crews from bases around the country. Precious time was lost, so a response that should have begun within hours, instead took days.

Similarly, three South African Police Service (SAPS) helicopters fitted with hoists joined the SAAF helicopters at Durban’s Virginia Airport after a few days, but the service was unable to provide an immediate rescue response either as a result of aircraft and crew non-availability.