Difficult Rescue Landing
- May 14
- 1 min read
Impossible! I shook my head to let the people on the ground know that it wouldn't work, and carefully maneuvered the helicopter backwards away from the landing site. On the ridge where we wanted to land, the bushes and trees had grown so tall at the front and rear that there wasn't enough space for either the main rotor or the tail rotor of the helicopter.
While I kept the helicopter hovering at a safe distance, I tried to give the villagers instructions with hand signals as to which trees needed to be removed. A few minutes later, the landing site was clear enough to make a second attempt. Even though the space was still tight, this time it was enough for landing.
A doctor from the hospital in Wamena was my flight attendant on this flight. As an experienced doctor, she wanted to examine the heavily pregnant patient on the spot. She suspected that the baby was in a breech position, i.e., upside down in the womb.
A short time later, she too shook her head with a worried expression and explained that the baby was definitely in the wrong position and could not “land” like this. It was a good thing we responded to the emergency call! This meant we could take the young woman and her husband straight to the hospital in Wamena, where the birth could be monitored and a caesarean section could be performed if necessary.
Later, I learned that both mother and child – a boy – were doing well. The effort was worth it!
Salomo, Pilot
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