View Full Version : Coronavirus - HEMS transport of infected patient
Gooday fellow pilots,
Would like your collective industry thoughts on the HEMS tranportation of an infected 2019-nCoV coronavirus patient in an open cabin/cockpit helicopter please. Thank you.
Shoot with the good, the bad and the ugly of what you would do and would not do. Thanks!
helicrazi
5th Feb 2020, 19:36
Gooday fellow pilots,
Would like your collective industry thoughts on the HEMS tranportation of an infected 2019-nCoV coronavirus patient in an open cabin/cockpit helicopter please. Thank you.
Shoot with the good, the bad and the ugly of what you would do and would not do. Thanks!
Protection, mask up and crack on
Heliice
5th Feb 2020, 19:38
Underslung ? HEC ?
Bell_ringer
5th Feb 2020, 19:48
By road? It's not life or death.. Yet
nomorehelosforme
5th Feb 2020, 22:58
Protection, mask up and crack on
Helicrazi,
Lol, the understanding of “ crack on” doesn’t seem to known worldwide, yet! It is now quite well known amongst the team I work with in downtown Atlanta... along with other comments, like “gob****e”.... need to pull the Oxford English Dictionary out on occasions!
makeflyingsafer
6th Feb 2020, 10:44
Be extremely foolish piloting yourself and your medic crew to transport a deadly infectious corovavirus patient to a medical facility in an open cabin/cockpit aircraft, helicopter or airplane. No amount of comfortable, aircraft pilot seat wearable PPE would keep you safe, no matter the short distance to hospital, the virus would remain on the carpets and in the seats covers for a while, and in the a/c system for long time unless you changed the filters - been proven time and time again. You'd be exposing all to the virus, and all those that follow in the aircraft, and at the workplace, and at home. Risk versus reward balance totally against your favour. Vitually all HEMS Operators, my old one too, will not fly contagious patients in their fixed or rotor wing fleet, risk of serious infection or death too high to all concerned, managament and owners included, aicraft badly contaminated, insurance is invalid, the list goes on. And on. And on.
Do not do it, period.
helipixman
6th Feb 2020, 11:20
Get a fleet of MASH style Bell 47s...patient on stretcher outside :ok:
bingofuel
6th Feb 2020, 13:15
The RAF are suitably equipped to do the transfer
GrayHorizonsHeli
7th Feb 2020, 09:53
China has you covered, just fog the inside of the aircraft while everyone is in it still....no worries. (I have to wonder what cancer causing mixture they're using though)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cviDggLs5jI
Vortex Hoop
7th Feb 2020, 10:42
Wear the old AR5 respirator with 'Whistling Handbag' filtration unit!
oldbeefer
7th Feb 2020, 14:32
GrayHorizons - that reminds me of the Swingfog device used in Belize to control mossies - the guy used to walk through the Mess with it going full chat. Total IMC for quite a few minutes! Don't know what the chemical was, but I'm still here 30 years later!
ShyTorque
7th Feb 2020, 17:01
GrayHorizons - that reminds me of the Swingfog device used in Belize to control mossies - the guy used to walk through the Mess with it going full chat. Total IMC for quite a few minutes! Don't know what the chemical was, but I'm still here 30 years later!
The "Swingfog" man was nicknamed "Sammy Davis Jnr" during my time there. I was told the "fog" contained DDT. I always took suitable precautions,though - I put a beer mat on top of my pint. There's no flies on me.
vortex-generators
8th Feb 2020, 17:59
Is anyone familiar with company sponsored procedures, to prevent spread of the corona in the cockpit?
MikeNYC
8th Feb 2020, 20:31
Certainly some of the mobile containment solutions could be used.
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/1024x750/fcfcf875_3e65_4ccc_a9ec_0a2dcd477815_69a47e74fdba72396c03c3f 093382aaee7368a77.jpeg
GrayHorizonsHeli
8th Feb 2020, 21:31
how well does that setup handle a post crash fire?
I can only imagine the shrink wrap result if the worst happened.
mickjoebill
9th Feb 2020, 06:06
On Saturday I called 000 for a ambulance to attend a young man with suspected broken ankle.
At the end of the call the operator said “I have to ask you, has the patient visited China in the last two weeks?”
I wondered what measures would be triggered if answering the question in the affirmative.
mjb
MJB - have you seen Monsters Inc? :)
Jimmy.
9th Feb 2020, 16:33
how well does that setup handle a post crash fire?
I can only imagine the shrink wrap result if the worst happened.
Hopefully the probability of a crash is less than being contaminated by coronavirus...