PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - "Helicopter and crew put at great risk to rescue man with indigestion."
Old 21st Mar 2018, 14:05
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Anyone believing otherwise is in the wrong gig.
or is an operational SAR crew member because otherwise you would never get airborne.

In the civilian systems I have worked, the management decided what was accepted. I presume here HMG has decided to provide SAR whenever the ground services feel it needed
the call can come in from a variety of sources and there doesn't need to be anyone medically trained on scene so you often launch on minimal information (not even a very accurate position).

If a walker falls and injures their leg and their companion dials 999 - they may think it is a broken leg even if it is just a twisted ankle but you won't know until you get there. At what point do you turn round and go home? A much trickier decision than some seem to believe.

If Emergency services are on scene then the crew can get real-time medical information via Airwave or by phone through the coastguard.

I have been called out to someone who 'had their arm bitten off by a horse' (nothing of the sort, just a fall), 'has been gored by a bull' (got caught between a big cow and a fence) and 'a person trapped in a flooded carpark' (Boscastle). And 250 nm off the West coast of Ireland for a merchant seaman with appendicitis (he walked off the aircraft at the hospital and discharged himself from their care as there was nothing wrong with him). You just never know........

Last edited by [email protected]; 21st Mar 2018 at 14:16.
crab@SAAvn.co.uk is offline