As tourists continue to flock to Australia's centre to climb Uluru ahead of the October deadline, one helicopter pilot is warning people of the climbing dangers.

Key points: The Uluru climb is set to close on October 26 after the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park announced the decision in 2017

The Uluru climb is set to close on October 26 after the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park announced the decision in 2017 37 climbers have died at the site since record keeping began with the last recorded death in 2018

37 climbers have died at the site since record keeping began with the last recorded death in 2018 The climb is very steep at an elevation of 863 metres

From October 26, it will no longer be possible to climb the landmark after the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park board unanimously decided to ban the activity.

In the lead-up to the ban, tourists racing to climb the rock are putting their lives at risk to tick off the feat — and some are getting into trouble.

Dan O'Dwyer, who grew up in Alice Springs, worked as the base manager for Professional Helicopter Services between 1998 and 2005.

He not only took tourists on scenic flights but was also involved in several emergency rescues of injured or deceased climbers.

"The main danger when landing atop Uluru is the wind," he said.

"I think we had a company-imposed limit of 20-25 knots [so] if the wind was any stronger than that, we were not permitted to attempt a landing.

"In layman's terms, air or wind acts a lot like water so imagine a wave crashing into the side of the rock — some of [the air] will flow up and over and down the other side."

Mr O'Dwyer said helicopters normally made an approach into the wind so the problem of landing on top of Uluru was two-fold.

Wind is a major factor in achieving a safe landing on Uluru's surface. ( ABC Open: Leone Fabre )

"If you enter the region of air that is flowing upwards, you may find yourself in a steep descent as the aircraft may not want to come down," he said.

"This would make a safe, controlled descent difficult.

"Conversely, if you find yourself in the region of air that is flowing downwards, you may not have enough power to climb out of it, and that would be very bad as you will have nowhere to go, but down."

Mr O'Dwyer said pilots had developed a technique to land on one of the four landing sites at Uluru.

"We approach with a crosswind, rather than approaching directly into wind [and] that gave us the ability to fly away should we find the approach becoming unstable," he said.

Landing sites are designated flattish sites, painted with a number and circle, allowing pilots to find the patient.

"The rock is not as flat as people might think; it's certainly hard, being rock, but it's a very sort of rough, undulating surface," Mr O'Dwyer said.

"The second part of landing is making sure you've got a good, firm hold before you actually tell people that it's okay to open doors and jump out."

Slippery when wet

After rain, the landing sites are notoriously dangerous.

"Worst case scenario, if there'd been a bit of rain — generally speaking, the rock was closed after any rain — but there can be water still up there," Mr O'Dwyer said.

"It can be a bit slippery underfoot, so that was the third part of the landing that you had to be careful with."

Landing a helicopter on one of the four sites is especially dangerous after rain. ( ABC Open contributors Harriet and James )

The reason behind the numbering of the landing sites was to help the emergency crews find the patient.

"When the rangers are up there and they're calling in the aircraft, they could give us a set point to go to so we knew where to go rather than just trying to find them on top," he said.

"You can imagine, on a busy day with all the climbers, there are literally a thousand people up there, so trying to find a group of people huddled together over a patient isn't that easy."

Bones sticking out

One of the worst injuries Mr O'Dwyer witnessed, was a woman who had tried to shelter herself from the wind in a pocket of small boulders.

Dan O'Dwyer did not climb Uluru while he worked there as a helicopter pilot out of respect. ( Supplied: Dan O'Dwyer )

"People used to stand in amongst them to stop themselves from being blown over," Mr O'Dwyer explained.

"One particular woman had wedged her legs in there and then she was blown over and she broke one of her legs.

"When we got there she was remarkably calm considering the bones were sticking out through her leg."

Another rock rescue that still resonated with Mr O'Dwyer was of a woman who was having serious heart palpitations.

"You'd be surprised at how many people [are] on top of that rock who are in no physical position to be up there," he said.

"For whatever reason have chosen to climb up there.

"We went to a lady who was in excess of 130 kilos and when the paramedic asked her if she was on any medication, she produced a list, some of which was experimental forms of medication from the United States.

"[She was] just somebody that shouldn't have been up there."

Not an easy climb

Signs at the base of Uluru ask people to respect traditional owners' wishes and not climb the rock. ( ABC News: Sally Brooks )

For many, the steep incline is very dangerous.

"It's not an easy climb. I think a lot of people that go there think it can't be that bad because of the amount of people that do it," Mr O'Dwyer said.

On one occasion Mr O'Dwyer was required to transport a tourist who had died while climbing the rock.

"We were able to use the stretcher capability to take them off the rock," he said.

"There's not an urgency to take them off the rock as in, the patient is obviously not getting any worse.

"However (Parks Australia) doesn't want to see bodies coming off Uluru, so we would simply put them on the aircraft and then remove them from from the top as quick as we could."

Despite only climbing Uluru once in childhood, Mr O'Dwyer decided against climbing it in the eight years he was based there, given the cultural sensitivities and said he was surprised the climb had not been closed sooner.

"In doing those rescues, I worked with some of the local Anangu people and it was put to me fairly plainly that it's a fairly sacred area to them," he said.

"I was never asked not to climb it. I was speaking with some of the traditional owners out there and they just expressed that they didn't like the fact that people climbed, so that I can respect that."

Helicopter pilot Dan O'Dwyer says the view from the top is unique and special. ( AAP )

According to Mr O'Dwyer, the view from the landing sites on top of Uluru is very special.

"There's not a great deal of pilots that have landed on top of the rock; it's probably 10 or 15 people," he said.

"It's it's a unique perspective [and] is obviously a lot closer that you get on a scenic flight."

As for the looming climb closure, it is likely tourists will continue to not only ignore the dangers but also the wishes of traditional owners.

"I think there's no difference with people wanting to climb Mount Everest," Mr O'Dwyer said.

"It's just it's a thing to be done; you go to the rock and climb the rock."

