A helicopter pilot who was forced to make an emergency landing in dense bushland in Sydney's south today said he only had 35 seconds to make the decision to land the aircraft, which was carrying his family.
Peter Butler was flying his daughter Kate, son-in-law Chris Gale and three-year-old grandson, Finn Gale, in the aircraft when it experienced a technical fault over Sydney's Royal National Park at Bundeena this morning at 700 feet.
The Robinson R44 helicopter had just taken off from Sydney Airport around 10am and was en route to the family farm at Kangaroo Valley.
"It was about 35 seconds from the time I was aware there was a malfunction and you have to put the aircraft in autorotation immediately. That worked well, we put the aircraft over the ground and we landed successfully," Mr Butler told 9NEWS.
"We were airlifted out because it was heavy scrub. I want to thank the Westpac rescue helicopter crew for a brilliant job, also the police and the ambos."
The helicopter was only 50 metres off the coast when Mr Butler noticed something was wrong. His decision to do a U-turn to come back to land ultimately saved the lives of everyone on board.
A Westpac Life Saver helicopter was sent to rescue the family just after 10.20am.
"I was winched into the spot and had to crawl through the bush over that distance because it was very thick to get to the aircraft," rescuer Anthony LeMarseny said.
Westpac Lifesaver spokesman Stephen Leahy praised Mr Butler for his quick-thinking.
"We found that they had only minimal cuts. They were all in good health but they were obviously shaken as a result of an unforeseen crash," he said.
"They were very lucky indeed considering the thick scrub they were forced to land in. The pilot identified the malfunction very quickly and has taken every precaution to land safely."
The family did not suffer any injuries in the landing and did not require transportation to hospital.