All Ireland Air Ambulance - publicity launch

[whaey]

Looks like these lads are on tour, collecting. Would be worth a look.

homepage:
All Ireland Air Ambulance - Home (http://www.aiaa.ie/index.php)

Publicity Launch details:
All Ireland Air Ambulance - Publicity Launch of the All Ireland Air Ambulance (http://www.aiaa.ie/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=50&Itemid=1)

[vortexadminman]

Brill hope they get one of the three up and running soon. Please tell me they not thinking of using a Bo 105 though, cracking machine in its day I know. Now it has to be a 902 or a 135 for HEMS. 902 My personal choice but then I used to drive them so I am biased not only from a pilots point of view but from some years listening to the para medics who worked on various types.:ok:

[funfinn2000]

It would be nice if they hired all Irish pilots, there is enough in need of work in these times,

[irelandairambulance]

Don't forget we are starting a service which will run from the north coast down as far as Dublin later this year.

Ireland Air Ambulance | Home (http://www.irelandairambulance.org/)

[lipgo]

Best of luck with the venture- however did you speak to the Health Service Executive!!!!??
:ugh:

[Oneflewover]

Well done to all involved getting this up and (almost) running - has been long overdue. Best of luck to you all.

Are the HSE/insurance companies supporting?

Anyone know how many Irish hospitals have dedicated landing facilities?

[peterprobe]

Best of the Irish to erm, anyone know what kind of aircraft they using???

[EI-tom]

They're using a BO 105 bud

[Just a spotter]

Best of luck to them and the lives they save.

Details below of the current service provided by Irish Air Corps AW139's.

Air ambulance given clearance for HSE take-off - National News, Frontpage - Independent.ie (http://www.independent.ie/national-news/air-ambulance--given-clearance-for-hse-takeoff-1311604.html)

The EC135-P2's also have Quick Conversion' Emergency Medical Services (EMS) kits.

JAS

[peterprobe]

A Bolkow.......:ooh: OK better than nothing and cheaper yes. Least they will have one up and running is the main thing.:D

[206Fan]

Their using a 105? I got the impression they were looking at buying a MD902.. Anyway at least they have something airborne. Good luck to them!

[capt tosspot]

Bolkow (stretched) is fine as start up - cheap, tough, powerful enough. lets you get procedures sorted and brings in extra support once it is seen to be working. A decent low risk start up plan I should think. If all goes well and money and or big sponsor comes on board then its straight forward to move on up. 902 is nice HEMS machine as is 135, even the Dauphin works if they are after longer IFR transfer type work as well. I wish them all the best and think that they will be busy busy.:ok:

[mg1]

Went down to Naas Co Kildare today to see the Air Ambulance - seems like an impressive set-up. Well done to all involved and lets hope it becomes a permanent service in the country.

[peterprobe]

Yeah good point about start up and etc, having flown around NI a lot and some Southern Ireland, gotta have a skidded machine, am sure most here have landed in those lovely small soft fields, so guess that would be a 902 or 135. Or even 2 Bolkows maybe:p

[500 Fan]

Here are a few photos of a Bond BO-105 that was in Ireland last week on a publicity tour to promote the proposed All-Ireland Air Ambulance service. Depending on funds, they hope to have three Bolkows based in Ireland to provide a VFR Air Ambulance service with Bond providing the machinery and personnel. This machine was only done up to demonstrate the concept to medical personnel around the country. Apparently it is the maintenance relief helicopter for Bond's Air Ambulance operations in the U.K., a fact they are very proud of as no other EMS service provider has a spare helicopter on stand-by when a regular machine goes sick.

http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn274/Bolkow1/Alouette%20photos/IMG_0777.jpg

http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn274/Bolkow1/Alouette%20photos/IMG_0800.jpg

http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn274/Bolkow1/Alouette%20photos/IMG_0806.jpg

http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn274/Bolkow1/Alouette%20photos/IMG_0824.jpg

Now, I have described this helicopter as a Bolkow but apparently I am wrong. The press hounds at RTE News have just discovered that the machine is in fact a "Bulker".:D

RTÉ News: Air ambulance plans launched (http://www.rte.ie/news/2009/0216/airambulance.html)

It's good to see my hard-earned cash spent on the T.V. Licence is money well-spent.:ugh:

500 Fan.

[206Fan]

The press hounds at RTE News have just discovered that the machine is in fact a "Bulker".

Silly ejits, one must have been on the guinness the night before!

Nice shots 500, thanks for posting :ok:

[SASless]

At least they left out the words "plunge, plummet, and sputtering".....give'em a break!

[peterprobe]

a fact they are very proud of as no other EMS service provider has a spare helicopter on stand-by when a regular machine goes sick.

errr I think you need to check some facts my friend. I do know as a mate flies for them that MAS/PAS also have a Bolkow as a replacement if one of their 902 s has a bad day. They did sell one but still have a standby cab.

[500 Fan]

The information about Bond being the only service provider with a spare air ambulance on stand-by came from speaking to the engineer who was accompanying this helicopter on its trip to Ireland. Apologies for passing on incorrect information. Perhaps he genuinely didn't know that PAS also have a maintenance relief machine.

500 Fan.

[206 jock]

Indeed the 'only ones to offer a spare' is bunkum.

Keny, Surrey/Sussex and Herts have a contractual Bo105 as a spare machine. And East Anglia (sterling) have a Bo105 in case one of their two main machines goes tech.

[peterprobe]

Amazing how the truth from an engineer or pilot or some sales pitch bloke/woman who works for the company gets distorted. It is all competion out there we all know that, but good grief behave children we need more air ambos in UK/Eire, so FFS help each other out instead of slagging. There is enough room/money/aircraft/people/engineers/paramedics/doctors/contracts/ to have at least one air ambo for each county in GB/NI/IRE .In fact I think it is pretty poor that there is not.

[kpd]

I am not a pilot and am delighted at the thought of a proper air ambulance service but the difficulty people forget is landing patients at the hospital. The most urgent example is Beaumont Hospital which for information is the national neurosurgical or head and spinal injury hospital for Southern Ireland which does NOT have a landing pad. Patients have to go to dublin airport and risk a second transfer by ambulance. I have had the honour of being in a R-44 which did land in a car-park on the hospital site but no pad!!!!
Another major hospital, the Mater has no helicopter access either because it is too close to Mountjoy prison and there was a minor problem of a helicopter "take-away" many years ago which put and end to that!!!!!
So until beaumont can get a proper pad the usefulness of such a service is sadly limited.

[206Fan]

Is there any hospitals down south with pads? I know some in the north have anyway, my local hospital uses the car park for a landing pad but since its only the S-61 that comes in shes to big for the car park so it means they got to land in the football grounds a short distance away and meet the ambulance crews.

[capt tosspot]

KPD - You have flagged up a very important point. There is a need to get hospitals / health authorities / ambulance services together to come up with landing sites at the hospitals. A fast transfer is good, docs and paramedics on scene are good, but it can all be ruined if the receiving hospital does not have a group 'a' pad within a trolley push of the resus room(s). I am sure every AA crewmember will be able to reel off a half dozen local hospitals and trauma centres that need to use an ambulance to move the patient 'round the corner' from whichever piece of grass has been nominated as the Hospital landing site. How many crews need to get keys to open locked gates? How many sites have to have football players cleared away? how many need security to ensure public are kept safely away? etc etc. It is an obvious glitch in the smooth transfer of casualty to resus and one which has been overlooked for many years. Ooops just fallen of my soap box!:bored:

[Just a spotter]

Is there any hospitals down south with pads?I believe there are regular transfers using Air Corps choppers into Our Ladys Hospital for Sick Children in Crumlin (south Dublin city) and the helicopters are often seen at University Hospital Galway. Whether either has a dedicated hard pad with access I'm not sure. A review of your favourite global mapping program should yield some answers.

Roof top pads would be illegal in Ireland.

JAS

[Barshifter]

"Roof top pads would be illegal in Ireland"

Unless your desperate for a bit of shopping :ugh:


[Man in court after going shopping in helicopter - Local & National, News - Belfasttelegraph.co.uk (http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/man-in-court-after-going-shopping-in-helicopter-13995327.html)

[FraserMac]

Why would roof-top pads be illegal in Ireland?

Excuse my ignorance but I don't understand why they are illegal......can anyone help please?

Thanks.:confused:

[kpd]

no idea about roof-top pads being legal or illegal in ireland-seem to be fine in uk so cant see the problem. confirm definitely pad in University College Hospital Galway.

[holybejaysus]

Good job by the mods for clearing up any confusion on this thread.
Now, how is the All Ireland Air Ambulance fund raising coming along? They must be pretty close to raising the 300k at this stage.

[s61fun]

Hi, I was just having a look on the AIAA website and it mentions that there are plans to roll out two aircraft by March 2010. Although it says bases have not been chosen I was wondering if anyone could give me any information on which operator has the contractor and if there are any rumours of where the bases may be.

Thanks

s61fun

[holybejaysus]

I heard a radio interview with the main guy a few weeks ago, they are aiming to have 2 BO-105's, one based at Kerry Airport, the other based in Ballybofey, Co. Donegal. They are looking to be up and running for March 2010. Day VFR flights only though. Best of luck to them all the same.

[nodrama]

I was wondering if anyone could give me any information on which operator has the contract


.....who is the biggest operator of B0-105s in that part of the world? :ok:

[holybejaysus]

Just a quick update on this All Ireland Air Ambulance project:

So the latest I have heard is that the original founder of this scheme, Derek Rowe, has now walked away from the project and is looking into setting up an Irish 'Childrens Air Ambulance' using an EC-135 and a Sikorsky S-92.

The original launch date for the AIAA was supposed to be March 2010. This information has now been pulled from the website, along with the fundraising bar that at one point had over 185,000 euros raised.

Does anybody know if the AIAA has a launch date set for operations? They have been collecting money for a few years now, and still no air ambulance.
The public have been pretty patient and supportive so far, I think the AIAA ought to clarify their mission statement and explain exactly what is going on with the project and why they have cancelled the launch date without any explanation.

I had previously defended the AIAA on another thread when they were being confused with the Irish Air Ambulance (in Northern Ireland), maybe they are pretty similar after all.

Does anybody know if the AIAA has:

1. Any previous Air Ambulance or Helicopter operations experience?
2. Any medical director appointed?
3. Any helicopters secured for operations?
4. Any company operating procedures manual?
5. Any base of operations, either confirmed or proposed?
6. Have they the backing of the HSE or PHECC organisations?
7. Do they intend to use HSE paramedics, or privately trained?
8. Are the directors paying themselves a wage, and if so, how much?
9. Any launch date set?


As I say, I had previously defended the project and I still think the idea of an Air Ambulance would be a great thing, but the handling of the entire project so far can be summed up in one word-amateurish.

[hostile]

Yeah, right. And S-92 for Children s hospital. something must be wrong in that project. Hey, C'mon.:\

[bolkow]

does anybody know the identity of the bo105 being used? I did hear an ex-lightohuse chopper EI-LIT a bolkow was going to become an air ambulance?

[holybejaysus]

Yeah, right. And S-92 for Children s hospital. something must be wrong in that project. Hey, C'mon.

They are only using an S-92 because there wasn't any Chinhooks available... :}
Seriously though, civvies really shouldn't get involved in things they know nothing about. Raise funds, fine. But leave the proper decision making to informed individuals.

does anybody know the identity of the bo105 being used? I did hear an ex-lightohuse chopper EI-LIT a bolkow was going to become an air ambulance?

My information is that they had rented a Bond BO-105 for a week, sprayed it with some All Ireland Air Ambulance logos, and did some promo flights, before returning the aircraft to Bond.

[bolkow]

I see, so they do not have anything currently.?
Thanks for that.

[holybejaysus]

I see, so they do not have anything currently.?
Thanks for that.

They never had anything, ever. Never mind currently! :eek:
And from what I can see, they have no intention of getting anything in the future either....

[bolkow]

That whole fiasco is likely to put members of the public parting with money to support any serious such future venture.

[holybejaysus]

Air ambulance charity founder quits to set up rival operation - The Irish Times - Wed, Aug 18, 2010 (http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2010/0818/1224277072520.html)


As for the latest developments, this doesn't surprise me one bit. See my previous posts for my opinion of the operation so far.
From what I can see, the All Ireland Air Ambulance needs a serious injection of professional public relations management.
The website has been down for the last few months...seriously guys, get your act together. Please keep people informed of developments, it isn't much to ask! Is it any wonder people are starting to doubt this organisation when the public are being kept in the dark?

As for the newly proposed People's Children's Air Ambulance to be set up by Derek Rowe...I will believe it when I see it. This is all getting a bit surreal.