RAF saves sprog
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RAF saves sprog
Now this might make a better recruitment ad....
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RAF makes Herculean effort to save life of newborn baby
By Simon de Bruxelles
The Times 14/01/04
IT CAN carry 220 tonnes of freight but yesterday the RAF Hercules transport aircraft’s most precious cargo weighed just six pounds.
As gale force winds and ice grounded civilian aircraft, the Hercules flew a four-day-old boy from Swansea to Glasgow for life-saving treatment.
The mission began when doctors at Singleton Hospital in Swansea said that the tiny baby, who was suffering from a severe lack of oxygen because his lungs were not working properly, would die without specialist treatment.
Only four British hospitals have the facilities and every unit at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, in London, to which the baby would have been transferred, was occupied.
Space was found at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children at Yorkhill, in Glasgow, 350 miles away. But on a stormy night, with the air ambulance and RAF rescue helicopters grounded, there seemed to be no way to get him there.
So the RAF agreed to scramble a Tristar to fly two doctors and a paediatric nurse and their equipment from Glasgow to Brize Norton in Oxfordshire. Meanwhile, the giant Hercules military transporter was flown from RAF Lyneham in Wiltshire to Brize Norton and was waiting on the tarmac to pick them up.
It then took off for Cardiff airport, from where the medical team travelled the 40 miles by road to Swansea. They spent several hours stabilising the baby before returning to Glasgow in the Hercules.
The aircraft touched down at about 10am, with paramedics standing by to transfer the baby to an incubator before taking him to Yorkhill in a special neonatal ambulance. Last night he was receiving emergency treatment on an extra-corporeal membranous oxygenation (ECMO) machine to help him to breathe.
The baby’s parents, from Bridgend in South Wales, flew up separately to be at their son’s bedside.
Ryan Parry, a spokesman for the hospital, said: “He is in a serious but stable condition.” It was too early to say how long he would need to remain connected to the machine.
While the number of children needing ECMO is very small, in cases of acute heart and lung failure the treatment can be life-saving. ECMO is most often used to treat babies and small children suffering from conditions where their own organs are unable to cope, such as severe respiratory failure caused by underdeveloped lungs, or blood poisoning. Using the machine to take over the functions of the child’s heart and lungs , it allows the body time to gain strength.
Mr Parry said: “There is no shortage of ECMO machines as such, it’s just a very specialised area of medicine. The equipment is expensive and the medical staff need special training, so the four centres that offer the treatment work as a network.”
Huw Williams, divisional general manager at Singleton Hospital, said that the bad weather had caused difficulties. “The baby needed specialist ECMO treatment . . . we were very grateful to Glasgow. A team flew down early on Tuesday morning and it was quite a flight for them given the gales and rain.”
Flight Lieutenant Barry Searle, of RAF Kinloss in Scotland, said: “It was a big task involving a great deal of organisation. The urgency of the case required exceptional measures to get the baby to hospital in Glasgow quickly.”
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RAF makes Herculean effort to save life of newborn baby
By Simon de Bruxelles
The Times 14/01/04
IT CAN carry 220 tonnes of freight but yesterday the RAF Hercules transport aircraft’s most precious cargo weighed just six pounds.
As gale force winds and ice grounded civilian aircraft, the Hercules flew a four-day-old boy from Swansea to Glasgow for life-saving treatment.
The mission began when doctors at Singleton Hospital in Swansea said that the tiny baby, who was suffering from a severe lack of oxygen because his lungs were not working properly, would die without specialist treatment.
Only four British hospitals have the facilities and every unit at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, in London, to which the baby would have been transferred, was occupied.
Space was found at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children at Yorkhill, in Glasgow, 350 miles away. But on a stormy night, with the air ambulance and RAF rescue helicopters grounded, there seemed to be no way to get him there.
So the RAF agreed to scramble a Tristar to fly two doctors and a paediatric nurse and their equipment from Glasgow to Brize Norton in Oxfordshire. Meanwhile, the giant Hercules military transporter was flown from RAF Lyneham in Wiltshire to Brize Norton and was waiting on the tarmac to pick them up.
It then took off for Cardiff airport, from where the medical team travelled the 40 miles by road to Swansea. They spent several hours stabilising the baby before returning to Glasgow in the Hercules.
The aircraft touched down at about 10am, with paramedics standing by to transfer the baby to an incubator before taking him to Yorkhill in a special neonatal ambulance. Last night he was receiving emergency treatment on an extra-corporeal membranous oxygenation (ECMO) machine to help him to breathe.
The baby’s parents, from Bridgend in South Wales, flew up separately to be at their son’s bedside.
Ryan Parry, a spokesman for the hospital, said: “He is in a serious but stable condition.” It was too early to say how long he would need to remain connected to the machine.
While the number of children needing ECMO is very small, in cases of acute heart and lung failure the treatment can be life-saving. ECMO is most often used to treat babies and small children suffering from conditions where their own organs are unable to cope, such as severe respiratory failure caused by underdeveloped lungs, or blood poisoning. Using the machine to take over the functions of the child’s heart and lungs , it allows the body time to gain strength.
Mr Parry said: “There is no shortage of ECMO machines as such, it’s just a very specialised area of medicine. The equipment is expensive and the medical staff need special training, so the four centres that offer the treatment work as a network.”
Huw Williams, divisional general manager at Singleton Hospital, said that the bad weather had caused difficulties. “The baby needed specialist ECMO treatment . . . we were very grateful to Glasgow. A team flew down early on Tuesday morning and it was quite a flight for them given the gales and rain.”
Flight Lieutenant Barry Searle, of RAF Kinloss in Scotland, said: “It was a big task involving a great deal of organisation. The urgency of the case required exceptional measures to get the baby to hospital in Glasgow quickly.”
Well done indeed!
One of the things the RAF still does very well indeed is urgent compassionate repatriation.
I did a few - it was very gratifying to see how well the system worked; a vehicle roared up to the steps once in Cyprus and out got a young solider plus kit. Up the stairs, door shut, engines start and away. On the way home a bit of HF work with Ascot Ops; a 125 will be awaiting our arrival. Directs across most of Europe (even France!), priority through the TMA, full spoilers, join on left base for 26. Full reverse, made taxiway 4 North, into parking bay. Movers and 125 are wating.....steps in, engines shut down, door open, lad and kit off, into movers wagon, into 125 which cranks up immediately. He was on his way to his dangerously ill child in Carlisle before we'd even finished the shut down checks...
That's the team working together - and one thing I actually do miss now that I'm mere civilian filth!
One of the things the RAF still does very well indeed is urgent compassionate repatriation.
I did a few - it was very gratifying to see how well the system worked; a vehicle roared up to the steps once in Cyprus and out got a young solider plus kit. Up the stairs, door shut, engines start and away. On the way home a bit of HF work with Ascot Ops; a 125 will be awaiting our arrival. Directs across most of Europe (even France!), priority through the TMA, full spoilers, join on left base for 26. Full reverse, made taxiway 4 North, into parking bay. Movers and 125 are wating.....steps in, engines shut down, door open, lad and kit off, into movers wagon, into 125 which cranks up immediately. He was on his way to his dangerously ill child in Carlisle before we'd even finished the shut down checks...
That's the team working together - and one thing I actually do miss now that I'm mere civilian filth!
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It's a good story and makes great PR for the RAF but, does anyone know why the parents flew up separately? Was it the RAF bureaucracy being pedantic about flying civilians or was there a perfectly sensible reason. I've been in too damn long to not be cynical!
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Similar vein to Beagle, but from a bit further a field.
Guy from 59 Independent Commando gets urgent phone call from UK.
Wife involved in very serious RTA. At local hospital high dependency unit.
BFPO666 to ASI on the next airbridge Albert,
ASI to LYE. on L1011, as BZN was fogged.
All above were routine flights, except that all the timings had been changed to facilitate the expeditious movement.
HS125 waiting outside J5, spooled up ready to go.
Lad on his way up North to the hospital.
From start to finish, guy with Green Beret only had his feet on the ground, or was in a stationary aircraft for less than 25 minutes.
The system works, with the right people in the loop, pushing the correct buttons.
AS an aside, with reference to the first line of trailfinders’ post, can someone please tell me which Hercules variant can carry 220 tonnes? (metric at that)
I gotta get me one of those!
Guy from 59 Independent Commando gets urgent phone call from UK.
Wife involved in very serious RTA. At local hospital high dependency unit.
BFPO666 to ASI on the next airbridge Albert,
ASI to LYE. on L1011, as BZN was fogged.
All above were routine flights, except that all the timings had been changed to facilitate the expeditious movement.
HS125 waiting outside J5, spooled up ready to go.
Lad on his way up North to the hospital.
From start to finish, guy with Green Beret only had his feet on the ground, or was in a stationary aircraft for less than 25 minutes.
The system works, with the right people in the loop, pushing the correct buttons.
AS an aside, with reference to the first line of trailfinders’ post, can someone please tell me which Hercules variant can carry 220 tonnes? (metric at that)
I gotta get me one of those!
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Despite my earlier cynical comment (I hope there was a good reason), casualty/next of kin procedures are something we really excel at. My wife's father was dying a few years ago and she was told to get home. Our admin people got the local travel agent out of bed to book her on the first civil flight out the next morning. Collected the ticket from the travel agent as shop opened next morning (RAF paid for it) and she was on the first flight. Civil airline ensured she was the first passenger off and whisked through to arrivals where she was met by someone from the RAF. A mobile phone was given to her to call anyone she wanted and a car plus driver was at her disposal for as long as she needed it outside (hospital wasn't far from Heathrow). He gave her a phone number to call for when she wanted to go back and the RAF would arrange for her return. Unfortunately, she didn't make it in time to see him, he died when the aircraft was staging through Abu Dhabi, but the efort put in by all concerned had to be seen to be believed.
On another occasion, one of the RAF airmen on exercise at RAFO (Royal Air Force of Oman) Thumrait was told to get home for a dying relative. There was no RAF transport nearby and the nearest civil international airport is about 1,000 km away. It would have added 24 hours to fly him civil from that part of Oman to the international airport in the capital. RAFO threw him into a green growbag and strapped him into the back of an Omani Jaguar. Jaguar lands at international airport and gets the airman on the next flight leaving the country. It's nice when our allies come through with the goods for us as well. To finish this story, the lad made it in time and had about 12 hours with his relative before they passed away.
On another occasion, one of the RAF airmen on exercise at RAFO (Royal Air Force of Oman) Thumrait was told to get home for a dying relative. There was no RAF transport nearby and the nearest civil international airport is about 1,000 km away. It would have added 24 hours to fly him civil from that part of Oman to the international airport in the capital. RAFO threw him into a green growbag and strapped him into the back of an Omani Jaguar. Jaguar lands at international airport and gets the airman on the next flight leaving the country. It's nice when our allies come through with the goods for us as well. To finish this story, the lad made it in time and had about 12 hours with his relative before they passed away.
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An excellent story, and well done to all involved - military and civilian. Congratulations to Lockheed and the RAF on introducing the Stealth Mega-Workules Mk6B with its 220-tonne freight capability, and at a stroke making the C17, Trimotor and A400 redundant!
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Ali - the parents flew separately because they wanted to and not because of RAF bureaucracy being pedantic about flying civilians
After all - the Baby, 2 Doctors and a Nurse were all civilians.
After all - the Baby, 2 Doctors and a Nurse were all civilians.
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Three excellent stories, which prove that the RAF & allies can do the good thing when it comes to it.
Not to spoil the good work done, but wondering why the Tristar wasn't flown directly to Cardiff (if they can cope with 747s, surely they can cope with a Tristar), and the Hercules there to pick them up ready to go back to Glasgow?
Jordan
Not to spoil the good work done, but wondering why the Tristar wasn't flown directly to Cardiff (if they can cope with 747s, surely they can cope with a Tristar), and the Hercules there to pick them up ready to go back to Glasgow?
Jordan
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The paper doesnt quite have the full story...
The Tristar was a task with it's last leg Hannover to Brize. After being held at Hannover for 1 1/2 hours for a Comp A to be driven to the airport, it was diverted into Glasgow to drop off a Comp. If there is ever a good time for there to be a Comp A this was, as the timmings co-incided almost perfectly with the need to move the medical team from Glasgow to Brize.
Reason for flying to Brize and not Cardiff - Crew duty.
The Tristar was a task with it's last leg Hannover to Brize. After being held at Hannover for 1 1/2 hours for a Comp A to be driven to the airport, it was diverted into Glasgow to drop off a Comp. If there is ever a good time for there to be a Comp A this was, as the timmings co-incided almost perfectly with the need to move the medical team from Glasgow to Brize.
Reason for flying to Brize and not Cardiff - Crew duty.
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Many years ago we arrived at Akrotiri in a Flatiron in the middle of summer. Got the refueller pretty quickly - keen to get the ac AF'd then off for a cold one or 6. Half way through the refuel, the driver stopped everything, unplugged, muttered something about a VC10 and then bu**ered off. Boy were we pi**ed off!
Captain gets a monk on and decides to give arrogant VC10 Captain an earful. We all traipse over from Alpha to Bravo to watch the punchup.
However, as we waited at the bottom of the steps, a loudmouthed civil servant [en-route to the Far East] was giving one of the rear crew a hard time. I heard his words, forever etched into my memory - 'I couldn't care less if there is a baby to go back to the UK - I insist on being taken on to my destination. Don't you realise how important I am?'
We were so gobsmacked at this tirade that we didn't notice the VC10 Captain standing on the bottom of the steps. He strepped forward, put his face about an inch from the obnoxious manderin's face and said extremely quietly, 'you will never fly in the same aircraft as me ever again. Get your miserable body out of my way or I will personally re-arrange you and dump you in the sea'.
He stared down said civi, who obviously thought better of saying anything, but was clearly extremely pi**ed off. My Captain stepped forward, grabbed the VC10 Captain's hand and simply said - 'well done, you can have my bowser any time!'
The soldier's prem baby [with possible brain damage] was in Great Ormond Street's SCBU [via Heathrow] 7 hours later...
Captain gets a monk on and decides to give arrogant VC10 Captain an earful. We all traipse over from Alpha to Bravo to watch the punchup.
However, as we waited at the bottom of the steps, a loudmouthed civil servant [en-route to the Far East] was giving one of the rear crew a hard time. I heard his words, forever etched into my memory - 'I couldn't care less if there is a baby to go back to the UK - I insist on being taken on to my destination. Don't you realise how important I am?'
We were so gobsmacked at this tirade that we didn't notice the VC10 Captain standing on the bottom of the steps. He strepped forward, put his face about an inch from the obnoxious manderin's face and said extremely quietly, 'you will never fly in the same aircraft as me ever again. Get your miserable body out of my way or I will personally re-arrange you and dump you in the sea'.
He stared down said civi, who obviously thought better of saying anything, but was clearly extremely pi**ed off. My Captain stepped forward, grabbed the VC10 Captain's hand and simply said - 'well done, you can have my bowser any time!'
The soldier's prem baby [with possible brain damage] was in Great Ormond Street's SCBU [via Heathrow] 7 hours later...
If my memory serves me correctly (and it's a big if), something similar happened with a Vulcan many, many years ago.
The a/c was on a ranger or whatever somewhere in the Pacific. A local child had some problem and needed facilities not available on the island. Vulcan captain decided on his own bat to take sick child elsewhere. Initially, he was roasted by the powers that be until the story hit the press then surprise surprise he was a hero.
Can't vouch for this tale but it was certainly talked about at the time.
The a/c was on a ranger or whatever somewhere in the Pacific. A local child had some problem and needed facilities not available on the island. Vulcan captain decided on his own bat to take sick child elsewhere. Initially, he was roasted by the powers that be until the story hit the press then surprise surprise he was a hero.
Can't vouch for this tale but it was certainly talked about at the time.
When I was a co-piglet on the VC10K, we were nightstopping in Palermo (remember those days?). There was also a small Victor det at Punta Raisi. We were asked if we could take a Victor groundcrew chap back to UK as there was an illness in his family - and the powers-that-be had refused to let him go back in a Victor earlier because he hadn't done an escape drill training session recently....... Befehl ist befehl, it seems they wouldn't bend a rule for compassionate reasons - and I bet he 'felt valued'!
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Audax
It was a 27 Sqn Vulcan on sniffing detachment to Midway as I recall. Mid 70s. Child flown to Hawaii?? Sortie was unauthorised. Crew plus father plus doctor plus child = 8 on board which I believe was a record.
It was a 27 Sqn Vulcan on sniffing detachment to Midway as I recall. Mid 70s. Child flown to Hawaii?? Sortie was unauthorised. Crew plus father plus doctor plus child = 8 on board which I believe was a record.
