SERVICE & OPERATION

The unit's main duty is to provide 24 hours emergency helicopter and fixed-wing flying support, seven days a week, to the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

Search & Rescue (SAR) One of the major responsibilities of the GFS lies with SAR operations. Although the area of responsibility covers the majority of the South China Sea up to 700 nautical miles south of Hong Kong, most of the search and rescue operations take place within 400 nautical miles of Hong Kong.

The Jetstream 41 (J-41) aircraft are used as initial search and rescue aircraft for all long range and off shore SAR operations. It will be the first to arrive at the scene and act as on-scene commander. It will then guide the Eurocopter AS332 (Super Puma L2) helicopters to the scene to winch up the casualties, or seek assistance from other merchant ships in the vicinity if the location of the scene is outside the operational range of the Super Puma L2 helicopters.

In-shore search and rescue operations are carried out using both the Super Puma L2 and Eurocopter EC155 B1 (EC155) helicopters. Dawn searches for lost or injured hikers and climbers are very frequent. Such operations sometimes require the winching of people from inaccessible places in the rocky hills of the New Territories or from the many outlying islands, often under bad weather conditions.

Both during and following a typhoon or other natural disasters, the GFS is kept extremely busy. Apart from search and rescue operations, the unit will carry government officers to survey flooding and damages to property and crops, as well as air-lift supplies and fly casualties to hospital.

Reconnaissance flights after a typhoon are designed to pinpoint areas in need of help as soon as the weather improves. Relief flights will be carried out accordingly.

Air Ambulance GFS provides a 24 hours air ambulance service. After receiving emergency callouts from clinics throughout the territory, the GFS helicopters can arrive on scene within 20 minutes for locations within Island Zone such as Hong Kong Island, Cheung Chau, Hei Ling Chau, Lantau, Peng Chau and Soko Islands, and 30 minutes for elsewhere within the Hong Kong territory.

In 2003, the unit's helicopters flew 2,003 casualties to hospital.

Police Support The Hong Kong Police Force makes frequent use of the unit's helicopters for a variety of tasks including the movement of personnel, traffic monitoring and communications. Regular patrols are flown with a Marine Police inspector on board, searching for illegal immigrants and smugglers. The three Super Puma L2 helicopters commissioned in 2001 have further strengthened the flying support to the police by providing an increased lifting capability.

By virtue of the J-41's sophisticated equipment and long fuel endurance, they are regularly tasked by the Police to perform covert patrols for detecting smuggling, illegal immigrants and drug trafficking.

Fire Fighting The Super Puma L2 helicopters are also used for their fire fighting capabilities which have been put to good use in countryside fire suppression operations. These are mounted in conjunction with the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department and the Fire Services Department. In addition to the standard fire bucket system, the Super Puma L2 helicopters can also be fitted with a elly tank' with its own suction pump and fire foam delivery system to enhance the fire fighting capability.

In 2003, the helicopters flew 298 hours in response to fire fighting call outs.

General Government Support The Home Affairs Department, Marine Department, Civil Aviation Department and Information Services Department make frequent use of helicopters to carry out their work. The Chief Executive also makes use of helicopters for official visits to outlying parts of Hong Kong.

Tasks performed for the Civil Aviation Department include the testing of existing runway visual aids. These flights involve night photography of the lighting on the approaches to check their serviceability. In addition, the GFS provides invaluable flying training for CAD officers.

The unit's helicopters assist the Marine Department in the surveying of ships suspected of discharging oil in Hong Kong waters and spraying oil dispersant if necessary.

The work undertaken by the unit for important visitors is considerable. As most of these visitors wish to see as much of Hong Kong in as short a time as possible, only helicopters can fulfill this need. Foreign government ministers and officials are often carried by the GFS aircraft during their visits.

Aerial Survey The J-41 aircraft are modified to accommodate a modern high quality aerial survey camera to provide photographs for the production of maps, survey of land reclamation and associated tasks.

The Government Flying Service and the Lands Department will jointly provide aerial photography and survey services for hire by the private sector. The fees, subject to annual review, are listed as follows :