28 January 2003 - The Tallahassee Democrat has reported that the growing Doctors' Memorial Hospital in Perry has signed an agreement to begin an emergency medical care helicopter service on 1 May 2003.

“Doctors' Memorial Hospital is thought to be the first rural hospital in Florida to offer its own emergency air transport service. The hospital will operate the service in partnership with the Pittsburgh-based CJ Systems Aviation Group.”

The announcement came four months after Tallahassee Memorial Hospital announced it would discontinue its emergency helicopter service, LifeFlight, in June.

For further details, see newsletter issue 3 (online shortly)

Hercules seaches debris field after EPIRB alert

27 January 2003 - A US Coast Guard HC-130 Hercules searched a debris field about 650 miles east of New Jersey on 21st January.

The Coast Guard Rescue Coordination Center (RCC) Norfolk, Va., received a distress signal from an unregistered electronic position indicating radio beacon (EPIRB) at 3:21 a.m. Monday.

At 3:57 a.m. the Coast Guard diverted the Dutch cargo ship P & O Nedlloyd Botany, an automated mutual-assistance rescue vessel (AMVER), to where the signal was transmitting. When the Botany arrived on-scene at 8:11 a.m., its crew retrieved a small amount of debris – wood boards, a piece of carpet and dresser drawers.

Coast Guard Air Station Cape Cod, Mass., launched an HU-25 Guardian, a medium range surveillance aircraft, at 8:46 a.m. to search the area for anyone in the water. While on scene, the Guardian located an emergency locator transmitter (ELT). ELTs are designed to allow satellites to track and signal RCCs concerning vessels in distress.

Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City, N.C., launched the first of two HC-130 Hercules aircraft around 11 a.m. to assist in the search since the EPIRB was first detected. The second HC-130 was launched at sunrise en route to the search area.

Coast Guard aircraft completed multiple search patterns over the debris field and searching an area the size of Delaware. The search was suspended after RCC Norfolk correlated the debris with a 30-foot yacht reported to have fallen off a cargo ship while transiting the Atlantic Ocean

Registered EPIRBs provide vessel ID and point of contact information allowing the Coast Guard to have a more accurate description of what they are searching for and to determine if the signal was a false alarm. Since 1994, registering a 406 MHz EPIRB is mandatory.

Birth of The Air Ambulance Foundation
23 January 2003 - The Air Ambulance Foundation is the new name for the UK’s National Air Ambulance charity, established in 1997 to support regional air ambulance charities by attracting additional funding at a national level. It also acts as a focal point to encourage the use of best fundraising practice.

"The average cost of operating an air ambulance ranges from £720,000 to £1.2 million," the charity told www.air-rescuetek.com. "All of the regional charities depend predominantly on public support through community activities such as:

	regional lotteries
	promotional events and merchandise
	membership subscriptions
	dedicated charity shops
	general public donations and fundraising events (everything from coffee mornings to sponsored bed pushes and parachute jumps!)
	local companies "

The Foundation intends to add value to these efforts by raising extra funds through major partnerships with national companies, encouraging supporters to include air ambulances in their Wills, organising major UK Challenge events, advertising for new donors as well as appeals to major trusts and grant-giving Foundations.

All funds raised by the Air Ambulance Foundation are used to support regional UK air ambulance charities.

For further details, access www.naaas.co.uk

Masimo announces latest pulse oximeter

22 January 2003 - Masimo Corporation, a leading innovator of signal extraction pulse oximetry, today announced the release of Rad-9, its first conventional enclosure design featuring Masimo SET technology. Rad-9, designed to complement Masimo's Radical pulse oximeter, is designed as a solution for bedside pulse oximetry.

Rad-9 is compatible with all Masimo LNOP(R) and NR(TM) sensors and offers a full range of features, including Masimo's Signal IQ(TM) waveform for signal identification and quality indication during motion and low signal-to-noise situations. Rad-9 also offers a Perfusion Index (PI) indicator. PI and Signal IQ can also assist the clinician in identifying an optimum sensor placement location.

"Over 50 independent and objective, published studies have demonstrated that Masimo Signal Extraction Technology substantially overcomes the limitations of conventional pulse oximeters. It can accurately measure arterial blood oxygen saturation levels and pulse rates in the presence of patient movement and low perfusion," said the company.

To date, Masimo has licensed its signal extraction pulse oximetry technology to over 35 international patient monitoring system providers which make up ‘over 60% of the world's pulse oximeter shipments’.

Teeside ambulance back in March

21 January 2003 - The UK’s Great North Air Ambulance’s Teeside operation is now off-line, but on a temporary basis only. It expects operations to resume in mid-March 2003, on an indefinite 7-day basis (an improvement on the previous 5-day temporary operation).

However, it confirms that its Blyth helicopter will still be covering the region in the meantime.

The ambulance’s latest rescue, its 143^rd mission since its launch at Teeside in July 2002, was in early January 2003. A woman who had been walking on snow-covered hills, fell and broke her leg near Stanhope. She was rescued by the Great North Air Ambulance and flown to the University Hospital of North Durham.

Teesside operation offline

Life Flight crew escapes serious injury

20 January 2003 – New Zealand’s Life Flight Trust rescue helicopter reportedly hit a tree on 14 January 2003 over the Rimutaka ranges whilst flying from Wellington to Masterton to pick up an injured motorcyclist.

According to the Wairarapa Times-Age, “the pilot’s hand was injured and possibly broken when the tree smashed the cockpit window, also injuring a doctor on board. The damaged chopper limped on to Masterton where it circled above Hood Aerodrome for about an hour while emergency services constructed a makeshift landing bed of tyres for it.”

The helicopter had some “impact damage” to both landing skids, unbalancing the aircraft which could not land.

“The woman pilot was forced to hover above the landing site while firemen cut off the remaining skid with a power saw,” reported the paper. “The crew alighted from the helicopter while the pilot hovered above the landing site. The fire service stood by in case the chopper caught fire. After they had finished removing the skid the pilot maneuvered the craft down on to the tyres and shut the engine off without problem.”

Run silent, run deep

17 January 2003 - All has gone quiet on the controversial proposal by BP and Amoco to replace emergency response rescue vessels with platform-based helicopters to provide SAR coverage to their offshore oil and gas operations in the UK sector of the North Sea.

Under the proposal, the helicopters would be supplemented by small rescue boats launched from the oil platforms themselves. The idea has been vigorously opposed by both trade unions and the Emergency Response Rescue Vessel Association (ERRVA), which represents owners and operators of such craft.

For further details, see newsletter issue 2

Does the US have enough EMS helicopters to cope with terror attacks?

16 January 2003 - The US Government is telling individual states to prepare for terrorist attacks with up to 500 victims, but most do not have thorough statewide knowledge of their air medical service capacity.

Massachusetts is probably in the best position at least to know what it has got thanks to a study by Garthe Associates, a local firm specialising in the analysis of health care and crash injury data.

For further details, see newsletter issue 2

Cash-strapped New Jersey wants five EMS helicopters

15 January 2003 - Despite a looming US$4 billion budget, the State of New Jersey’s governor James E McGreevey wants to buy up to five new twin-engined EMS helicopters. These would replace the two Sikorsky S76Bs operated by NorthSTAR (Northern Shock Trauma Air Rescue) and SouthSTAR and flown by New Jersey State Police pilots.

For further details, see newsletter issue 2.

EMS decision-making aid under development in Australia

14 January 2003 - Australian computer boffins are working on a decision-aiding tool – an automated pre-mission success evaluator – that could help make critical decisions and could provide hard data for bureaucrats who want ‘proof’ that EMS helicopters a) work and b) are cost effective.

The project could result in a piece of software that takes into account the needs and circumstances of the mission and compares them with the capabilities of the aircraft, its medical equipment and its crew and comes up with a probability of success figure. It would also assess the risk to the aircraft and crew. It promises to make go/no-go decision making more consistent and to come up with alternatives if the success of an air ambulance mission is deemed too low.

For further details, see newsletter issue 2

Cormorant eases burden for Labrador

13 January 2002 - It is expected that Canada’s 14 Wing will phase out use of its CH-113 Labrador helicopter completely by approximately April 2003, following delivery of its new CH-149 Cormorant helicopters.

The first of 14 Wing’s four new Search and Rescue (SAR) Helicopters, the CH-149 Cormorant, arrived in Greenwood on 24th August 2002 as a replacement for the Labrador helicopter.

The new helicopter will be flown by crews from 413 Transport and Rescue Squadron, and will be used for SAR missions. The Squadron itself is the primary air search and rescue unit on Canada’s East Coast, responsible for an extensive area of 1.8 million square miles. The Cormorant, with its three engines, long-range capability, and its ice protection system, combined with its ability to withstand high winds, is “ideal for the East Coast’s demanding geography and climate,” says 14 Wing.

New tracking/comms system debuts with rescue

10 January 2003 - A medical emergency at sea turned into a dramatic humanitarian mission for the US 920th Rescue Group on 8 December 2002. The emergency also provided the unit with its first chance to use a new satellite-based tracking and communications system during a rescue.

Crews from Air Force Reserve Command's 920th RQG was dispatched at 7:15 a.m. on two HH-60 Pave Hawk helicopters and one HC-130P/N aircraft to locate, recover, treat and transport an ailing man on a commercial fishing vessel approximately 500 miles off Florida's eastern coast.

Mike Swann, the ship's captain, was suffering from complications related to kidney stones. Crews from the 920th RQG reached him at about 11 a.m. Para-rescue specialists jumped from a helicopter into the ocean, swam to Swann's ship and boarded it. They assessed the situation and decided to stabilise Swann, put him on a hoist and lift him up into the helicopter.

"The patient was in extreme distress and ran the risk of infection due to the kidney stones. He needed to be evacuated," said Master Sgt. Doug Kestranek, one of the para-rescumen who boarded the 75-foot ship.

After Swann was safely aboard the helicopter, he was flown to an area adjacent to Holmes Regional Medical Center in Melbourne, Fla., and transferred to Brevard County paramedics. They took him to Holmes where he was treated and released later that night.

Swann's wife, Anna Maria, was on the scene when the HH-60 helicopter carrying him landed near Holmes.

This was the first rescue, said the US Air Force, conducted using a new, state-of-the-art system called the Global Personnel Recovery System. This system was installed in 920th RQG helicopters in December 2002. It is a quantum technology leap for combat rescue capabilities and also has applications for other types of military missions, said rescue officials.

Using satellites to transmit data back to command centers where the mission can be visually monitored on a screen, GPRS provides near real-time tracking globally. GPRS also provides two-way instant messaging between people at the home base and the crews flying the mission.

"We can maintain constant communication with our crews and actually watch them operate through every phase of a rescue mission from (the commander centre)," said Maj. Marc DiPaolo, an HH-60 pilot with the group. "It doesn't matter if they're off the coast of Florida or in Korea."

South Dakota publishes mission response figures

9 January 2002 - By the end of FY 2002, the South Dakota Wing of the Civil Air Patrol responded to over 100 missions, including one missing aircraft and one missing helicopter search.

The overwhelming majority of missions, it reported, were tasked by the South Dakota Office of Emergency Management (OEM), South Dakota Wildland Fire Division (WFD) and the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center (AFRCC).

Missions were split, over the year, as follows:-

49 Total emergency services mission callouts

1147.9 Total flying hours

20 Total search & rescue missions

1 Total disaster relief missions

40 Total fire missions for WFD

43 Total fires spotted

15 Total OEM search & rescue missions

19 Total AFRCC missions

2 Missing aircraft/helicopter missions

17 Emergency signal missions

17 ELT located at airport as false alarm

Essex Air Ambulance bounces back

7 January 2002 - After losing £180,000 in sponsorship when the UK Automobile Association (AA) did not renew a three-year deal, Essex Air Ambulance made up the shortfall after an extended fundraising drive.

According to This is Essex.com, fundraising manager, David Philpott, said: ""We even appear to have some surplus to running costs but they are increasing and replacing parts and other expenses are rising too, so we don't want to get too comfortable."

All the money goes towards keeping the ambulance airborne - a running cost of £90,000 a month with the new Eurocopter 135 - and buying paramedic suits and specialised equipment. Around £108,000 was coming in each month from November 2002.

The UK Lottery has been one of the biggest winners for cash, the income increasing dramatically to bring in more that 40% of the charity's funds as more than 16,000 people take part weekly. Events run by kind-hearted groups, from Rotary clubs to Brownies, still make up the lion's share.

A new chairman of the charity's appeal committee has also been appointed. Chris Richards, who has worked with the good cause for years, is also managing director of website This is Essex, with a detailed knowledge of the county expected to help his charity work.

Mr Philpott said: "We are delighted that Chris has accepted our invitation to lead the appeals committee at this critical time. With a new helicopter on order it is paramount that we keep the air ambulance at the forefront of people's minds."

UK Government thinking begins to favour air ambulances

6 January 2003 - The British Government’s commitment to fund EMS paramedics and provide cash to help newer services to their feet shows that official indifference to air ambulances is thawing at last. Furthermore, the Department of Health is considering commissioning further research into the clinical cost effectiveness of air ambulances.

please see the latest newsletter for further information

Coast Guard conducts two Christmas Eve medevacs

3 January 2002 – US Coast Guard rescue crews transported two ailing people to medical facilities on Christmas Eve from Akhiok, in Western Alaska, and a merchant vessel at sea.

An Air Station Kodiak helicopter crew airlifted 46-year-old Herman Vaxier of Manila, Philippines from the 700-foot container ship Glorious Wind at 4:17 a.m. to a medical facility in Kodiak after Vaxier suffered severe chest pains and bronchitis complications. Vaxier arrived in Kodiak aboard the Coast Guard Jayhawk helicopter at 11:20 a.m.

The second medevac occurred at around 9:30 a.m. from the Western Alaska village of Akhiok. An Air Station Kodiak helicopter crew airlifted 58-year-old James Simeonoss and transported him to Kodiak for treatment of severe dehydration.

Officials release HH-60 incident report

2 January 2003 - A less than optimum take-off technique, combined with an attempt to outclimb a dust-out with insufficient power, caused the 12 August crash of an HH-60G helicopter according to US Air Force officials who investigated the incident.

At the time of the crash, the helicopter was returning to its alert base from a forward operating location after completion of a successful combat search and rescue mission.

According to an accident investigation board report, released by US Air Combat Command, the aircraft’s departure was slow which resulted in the aircraft being engulfed in a dust cloud created from its own rotor wash, reducing external visibility to zero. The pilot first tried to climb above the dust and then tried to land but impacted a sand berm.

The pilot, co-pilot, flight engineer, aerial gunner and two pararescuemen egressed safely with non life-threatening injuries.

The helicopter is permanently assigned to the 347th Rescue Wing at Moody Air Force, Ga., but was temporarily assigned to the 41st Expeditionary Rescue Squadron, 416th Air Expeditionary Group, deployed in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.

Order award for V-22

31 December 2002 – The Bell-Boeing Joint Program Office, Patuxent River, Md., is being awarded a US$12,615,103 ceiling-priced delivery order against a previously awarded indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract (N00019-99-D-1536). This is to support resolution of avionics and flight control user technical problems and support software for production aircraft, engineering and technical effort to investigate potential configuration changes, as well as maintenance, of V-22 software with existing aircraft.

Work will be performed in Ridley Park, Pa. (90%) and Fort Worth, Texas
(10%) and is to be completed in December 2003. Contract funds in the amount of US$749,223 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. US Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, is the contracting activity.

Thai operator explores fixed-wing medevac

30 December 2002 - Thai operator Siam GA Ltd, which had its grand opening at Bangkok International Airport on 9 October 2002 as a passenger and cargo air charter operator, has reportedly indicated an interest in offering medical evacuation flights from January 2002.