MISSIONS
EQUIPMENT
LifeFlight airlifts 10 patients in one day
dedicated air ambulance helicopters. Helijet operates the S-76C+ medical helicopters on a 24/7 basis from its Vancouver International Airport and Prince Rupert/Seal Cove base facilities under longterm contracts with BC Emergency Health Services (BCHES), which operates the BC Ambulance Service. Under an agreement with BCEHS, Helijet will install NVIS into the three dedicated air ambulances, with the $1.6-million installation cost being financed by Helijet International. Once operational, NVIS will enhance cockpit flight operations to provide greater pilot situational awareness with the objective of
HELIJET
Helijet International Inc. has revealed that this winter, it will install night vision imaging systems (NVIS) into all three of its
achieving safer mission completion during night flight operations, said the operator. To complete what it described as a complex installation, Helijet has partnered with VIH Aerospace, Rebtech Technologies and Night Flight Concepts. Brendan McCormick, Helijet’s director of flight operations, stated: “This equipment will significantly enhance our current air ambulance service delivery, allowing us to provide services where we couldn’t before and dramatically increasing safety where we have.” Helijet said that it plans for its flight crew to be fully ground and flight trained on the use of this technology by early 2018.
EMERCOM promises more firefighting jets by 2025
EMERCOM
The Russian Emergency Control Ministry (EMERCOM) Minister Vladimir Puchkov has announced that the service will obtain six Beriev Be-200ChS firefighting planes before 2025. The promised planes will come in addition to the acquisition of six Be-200ChS jets by the end of 2018 that he announced in January this year.
Puchkov explained: “[EMERCOM] is going to get six Be-200ChS planes by the end of 2018 and another six upgraded amphibious planes before 2025.” He added that Ministry’s divisions across the country are already receiving new Russianmanufactured rescue tools and equipment, including multipurpose Sukhoi Superjet 100 planes, Mil Mi-8MVT helicopters, ground firefighting vehicles and UAVs.
LIFEFLIGHT
Helijet and BC Ambulance Service to install night vison kit
It was a busy day for LifeFlight crews around the state of Queensland, Australia on 20 September, when they were tasked on 11 missions and airlifted 10 patients to hospital. The Bundaberg RACQ LifeFlight Rescue
helicopter airlifted a 33-yearold woman to the Bundaberg Hospital after she was involved in a serious motor vehicle accident on the Bruce Highway. Later that day, the same woman was airlifted by the Sunshine Coast crew to Brisbane for further specialised care. Following another motor vehicle accident, a motorbike rider in his 60s was airlifted from Glenmorgan to Toowoomba by the LifeFlight SGAS helicopter. Two patients were airlifted from north of Tin Can Bay and in the South Burnett region by LifeFlight crews after falls – one patient suffered an injury after falling from a ladder, while a man in his 70s was flown to hospital after what was believed
Trio of new helos for DRF Luftrettung
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AIRMED & RESCUE
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German air rescue provider DRF Luftrettung took possession of three factory-new H135 helicopters at the Airbus production site in Donauwörth. The new additions come as part of DRF Luftrettung’s process of updating its fleet. Each boasts advanced avionics with a four-axis autopilot and improved satellite navigation, a traffic advisory system and helicopter terrain awareness and warning system. The first two machines have been flown to the DRF Luftrettung operations centre at Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden Airport, where the organisation’s technicians are installing the newly designed medical equipment from Bucher Leichtbau. DRF Luftrettung said its Part 145 maintenance operation is already certified to look after the H135s, and its pilots are receiving training on the model.
to be a fall from a horse. The Bundaberg and Sunshine Coast RACQ LifeFlight Rescue helicopters both airlifted separate patients with cardiac conditions from Fraser Island to Bundaberg and Hervey Bay Hospitals. LifeFlight crews also airlifted four more patients between different hospitals with a range of medical conditions. LifeFlight chief operating officer Brian Guthrie reflected that school holiday periods were traditionally busier for LifeFlight crews around the state: “Obviously, once the weather starts to warm up, more people are travelling on the roads and generally are out and about and are more active. But 10 patients in one day is a busier-than-usual day for aeromedical retrievals for LifeFlight, even for the holiday period.” He added: “We don’t expect it to ease up over the next few weeks, but we are well equipped to be able to handle whatever we are required to do.”
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