Originally Posted by
timmak
From Private Eye 1511 (13 December(
Air ambulances
Wilting in Wilts
Wiltshire Air Ambulance service (WAA) is finally airborne again. But that's no thanks to the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), whose bureaucracy kept its helicopter grounded for months - a delay that risked the lives of critically ill people. WAA, a self funding charity, has had a difficult year since Heli Charter, the company that held its crucial air operator certificate (AOC), ceased trading in January. WAA swiftly made contingency arrangements to use a back up helicopter belonging to Specialist Aviation Services, but ended that expensive temporary arrangement in August in the belief that getting the final go ahead to resume flying its own Bell 429 was by then a formality. Not so. While WAA had satisfied the CAA that it was competent to fly in its own right - a qualified pilot and management structure were in place - the authority dragged its feet on two other crucial matters. The first was signing off on "continual airworthiness" - ensuring processes were in place for the helicopter to be properly maintained, even though WAA had submitted the necessary paperwork in March. The second, bizarrely, related to consumer protection, despite WAA being a charity and not a commercial operation. Interference by CAA's airline licensing consumer and markets group held everything up as it became swamped by fallout from the Thomas Cook collapse and the demands of Brexit. As CAA dithered, WAA was forced to spend extra money funding two rapid response cars. Although manned by paramedics with the same skills and equipment, delays proved critical. Road journeys to casualty units took up to an hour, whereas a helicopter can fly anywhere in Wiltshire in around ten minutes. Sometimes neighbouring air ambulance services helped out, but an inside source told the Eye the prolonged lack of its own helicopter at WAA "cost lives", though they could not say how many and in what circumstances. A bland statement from the CAA ignored all the Eye's questions about the causes of the delay and the failure to prioritise a lifeline service. "We liaised with Wiltshire Air Ambulance Trust during the application process and, on several occasions, needed to ask them for additional information to support their original application. The process is now complete, and the company has its AOC," it said. WAA finally resumed flying in November. It has now made a formal complaint to the CAA, and told the Eye it was constantly passed from pillar to post, unable to deal with the same official. "It's impossible to calculate how many times we tried chasing them up," a spokesman said. WAA chief executive David Philpott said that the CAA constantly complained of being "too busy". "Our point was that all the time we're not flying, lives are at risk," he said. "We have made our anger known".
Well... Whatever their operational challenges it's clear to see that WAA's
PR department is operating at full speed (or should that be full spin!?)
Good deflection!