ENG-1991 — Page 333

PUBLIC ORDER

The joint rescue operation resulted in 173 of the 195 persons on board being rescued. During the dry season, the helicopters assisted in over 60 fire-fighting operations and dropped over 1370 tonnes of water on bush and forest fires in areas inaccessible to conventional fire-fighting appliances.

The Police Force and the Correctional Services made frequent use of helicopters for training and operational purposes. Helicopter flights were routinely provided to transport engineering staff to hilltops to carry out maintenance and repair work at communications repeater stations. During the year, about 7910 government officers were flown to various areas in the course of their duties. Flying services were also provided to give official overseas visitors an overview of the territory. Helicopter flying services were provided daily to the police for border patrol duty since they began to take over border security duties from the military. Flying support of this nature will be progressively increased as the police take up full border duties by 1992.

The Super King Airs maintained regular offshore patrols in connection with anti-illegal immigration operations and were also heavily employed in support of the Buildings and Lands Department's continuing need for aerial surveys, photography and map-making. The Fireflys and Islander provided pilot training for the squadron's cadet pilots.

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