The Westpac Rescue Helicopter was tasked to the mission when a signal was detected from a personal emergency beacon between Newcastle and Karuah. 

It was up to the crew to pinpoint the source and respond if necessary.

But as the chopper neared Soldiers Point and the Salamander Bay Waste Transfer Station suspicions grew that it was a false alarm.

“It happens quite a lot, not just here, but across the country when people dispose of these devices in the rubbish and they end up at the tip,” aircrewman Graham Nickisson said.

Once in landfill these emergency position-indicating radio beacons (EPIRBs) are often inadvertently activated beneath the wheels or tracks of heavy machinery.

The crew will often land and find the device with handheld tracking equipment and deactivate the EPIRB if possible.

Mr Nickisson said the crew was almost certain this was again the case on Thursday.

“On this occasion it appears the signal was coming from a marine workshop,” he said.

“This should still serve as a reminder that people need to take care and dispose of out-of-date EPIRBs responsibly.”

This mission lasted about two hours.

“We remind people that the batteries must be removed or take old beacons to a marine rescue unit to discard them,” Mr Nickisson said.