Titan to the rescue

Titan Helicopters was asked to evacuate a Phillipino able seaman off a 322mbulk carrier the Margot N of 255 000 gross tons, passing the Cape bound forthe far east, on Friday night.The sailor had suffered a suspected stroke three days earlier and while his condition wasstable he required hospitalisation. The rendezvous was planned for 20h00 onFriday evening when the vessel would have been at 7 miles from Green Pointlight, but due to rapidly gathering fog it was decided to depart early andthe vessel was met at about 20 miles.The Bell 212 helicopter was landed on deck and the patient who was able towalk to the aircraft was checked before being boarded for the return flightto Cape Town.Upon arrival at the Titan Helicopters base, the area around Cape Town dockswas entirely fogbound with only the tops of the container cranes, the PortControl tower and an oil rig visible above the fog. With a landing at thebase being impossible, the aircraft diverted to Vincent Pollotti Hospitallanding zone where it was shut down for the night. The patient wastransported by road to Christiaan Barnard Memorial Hospital with the Metroparamedic in attendance.The flight crew was as follows:Titan pilot in command: Louis Venter, Co-pilot: Ted Huddlestone, Flight engineer: John Britton, NSRI winchman: Stuart Burgess, Metro paramedic: Gary Wokka