2018-10-01_Reader_s_Digest_AUNZ

46 | October• 2018

“FIND MY SON”

I’ll go and get my brother, he can go

with you,” he told them. “He’s just a

few minutes down the road – it won’t

take me long to get him. Do you want

me to pay you now andill out the pa-

perwork?” he asked.

“No mate, it’s been long enough.

Let’s ix it up later,” Lee replied.

AS TONY RACED TO GET MICHAEL,

Lee and his colleagues pushed out a

four-seater Robinson R44 helicopter

from its hangar and quickly prepared

the aircraft. They took off the doors

to allow for a 360-degree view, and

by the time Michael arrived at the

airield ten minutes later, the aircraft

was ready.

The gusty wind buffeted the light-

weight helicopter as it took off. At

Lee looked at his anguished face
asTonybriefedhimonthesituation.
Lee had 17-year-old twins himself,
andherecognisedthefearthatevery
parent feels when they can’t contact
a teenager.
As a helicopter pilot of 18 years, Lee
hadlown plenty of search missions,
but none of them had ended well. If,
by any miracle, Sam was still alive, he
would have been out there for close
to 29 hours through an entire hot day
and night. He’d be dehydrated and in
pain. “How soon do you want to go?”
he asked.
A strong wind had picked up but the
conditions were not beyond an expe-
rienced pilot like Lee. Tony, prone to
motion sickness, didn’t want to hold
up the search. “I’m not a good lyer,

Sam sat semiconscious in his car, unable to move, for 29 hours before

he was spotted from the air and rescued

PHOTOS: COURTESY MEGAN LETHBRIDGE