Hunch pays off as helicopter finds teenager alive
LUCKY ESCAPE
A LAKE Macquarie father’s decision to hire a helicopter to search for his son has paid off after the teenager was found alive in a car wreck on Monday.
Acting on a hunch, Tony Lethbridge paid $1000 to hire a helicopter after his 17-year-old son, Samuel, didn’t come home from a night out in Sydney.
The teenagers car was located in bushland around 15km from his home on Monday morning where he had spent almost 30 hours trapped in the wreckage. He remains in hospital in serious condition after suffering multiple fractures, according to a Sky News report.
Helicopter pilot and part-owner of Skyline Aviation Group, Lee Mitchell, told Sky News he discounted his usual hire rate of A$1,200 for Mr Lethbridge after he explained his situation.
"He came in looking anxious and somewhat fatigued and said he needed a helicopter bad," Mr Mitchell said.
"He just said: 'I've got A$1,000 on me, will that be enough?' and we said: 'Yes, it would.”
It comes as Julatten father Ron Kearney funded his own helicopter to search for his missing 26-year-old son Reece on Saturday. The man was last seen on December 15 and the search is now expected to spread to the Northern Territory.
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