Respect to LamaBear, an absolutely clean description of the situation.
Have also flown bigger helos during my military time including hoist ops on SAR missions. But the backbone of the EMS are the smaller helicopters around the world. Mountain rescue (or rooftop) with hoist or fixed line is an additionally very small part of the alldays business. Shure depends on location. It's not the question fixed line or not, the answer was given years ago. Military is not interested in rescueing a climber or collapsed tourist with their big machines. Due to their smaller funds civ ops will be shorted. And any other organization, operator or police stands in fight with the deskjockeys and insurances, cutting down the operation costs.
We have to find the best, cheapest, but safest way! An additionally hoist operator standing by each day for our 3-5 fixed line missions per month isn't to pay.
Heedm,
two or more guys on the line, at least one fixed line or hoist experienced seems to me much better than single uplifts, because i've seen more people getting nuts on the line and trying to kill theirselfs, than engine failures. Also an unharmed Patient should be fully enclosed in a rescue bag, that's the best way.
To the problem of facing rearwards: due to the harness-rope clipping in chest level it's not to avoid. Could be only avoided with a persons CG exactly under or within the airforces pressure point. Under hoist ops the problem is not so important because there's not so much airspeed and airforces.
[email protected],
i don't know that "bosun chair arrangement". Is it usable in mountains, gives the rescuer fully movement and for selfprotection it's to sling into a mountain hook? Sometimes it isn't possible to lift the rescuers direct to the patient and they have to climb or descend on the rock.
Matator,
sounds good, but we are the EMS helicopter, there is no other helicopter to assist us. Guess our authorities don't like the idea to pay for a helicopter to catch the patient and the next for medical treatment.