Underslinging a casualty
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Underslinging a casualty
This item Albrecht fall - Yahoo! Eurosport UK shows a rather nasty skiing accident. The casualty is extracted via the hook, presumably due to the slippery slope, but I'm interested in how far they would transport him - it's scary enough dangling from a winch, never mind a hook!
I know this is accepted practice in some parts of the world but the paramedics and casualty are exposed for a very long time and are a very long way from the ground.
Surely just craning the casualty at a safe height to a land ambulance or a better landing site would be preferable.
Surely just craning the casualty at a safe height to a land ambulance or a better landing site would be preferable.
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Droopy:
I'm class D certified in Canada. Means I can legally transport a human external load. And that's one of a few prerequisites that have to be in place to conduct such operation. The training isn't hard, since most pilots who do that kind of stuff are usually quite proficient in longline operations already.
Knowing the legal side is just as important!
The helicopter itself has to be equipped with either a double hook system or a belly band in addition to the regular belly hook. Under no circumstances will such a load be flown on just one hook. There is also an airspeed restriction, which is 60 Kts with a load on the hook.
We use this kind of rescue as a last resort only on seismic or logging jobs or in the mountains during heliskiing operations.
Sometimes terrain, trees or the type of injury ask for this kind of retrieval though.
The load will be flown to the nearest point where emergency personnel is able to take over the injured person and not further. Usually it's just a short flight that sometimes doesn't even last 2 minutes.
Cheers!
I'm class D certified in Canada. Means I can legally transport a human external load. And that's one of a few prerequisites that have to be in place to conduct such operation. The training isn't hard, since most pilots who do that kind of stuff are usually quite proficient in longline operations already.
Knowing the legal side is just as important!
The helicopter itself has to be equipped with either a double hook system or a belly band in addition to the regular belly hook. Under no circumstances will such a load be flown on just one hook. There is also an airspeed restriction, which is 60 Kts with a load on the hook.
We use this kind of rescue as a last resort only on seismic or logging jobs or in the mountains during heliskiing operations.
Sometimes terrain, trees or the type of injury ask for this kind of retrieval though.
The load will be flown to the nearest point where emergency personnel is able to take over the injured person and not further. Usually it's just a short flight that sometimes doesn't even last 2 minutes.
Cheers!
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Wonder why they wouldn't just sled him down to the braking area and load into the aircraft from there? These medics are very skilled at taking people down entire mountains on stretchers, wouldn't have thought it would be that difficult compared to the exposure on the underslung method. Surely they weren't that desperate to clear the run?
Itīs a long discussed field here
Try
http://www.pprune.org/rotorheads/162...escue-ops.html
or search for shorthaul operation
Try
http://www.pprune.org/rotorheads/162...escue-ops.html
or search for shorthaul operation
Of course money is a big point.
But there is also not enough flight performance on the EC 135 to carry winch and winch-operator additionally to the basic 3 persons rescue crew for high mountain rescues. And it's very difficult to bring the patient in a rescue bag after hoisting inside the small cabin. The austrians ordered their first five EC 135 some years ago with hoist provisions, but after some trials they decided to use the rope. And it works good enough to do each year more than 700 rope rescues in Austria. Plus some hundreds additionally in Germany and Switzerland.
But there is also not enough flight performance on the EC 135 to carry winch and winch-operator additionally to the basic 3 persons rescue crew for high mountain rescues. And it's very difficult to bring the patient in a rescue bag after hoisting inside the small cabin. The austrians ordered their first five EC 135 some years ago with hoist provisions, but after some trials they decided to use the rope. And it works good enough to do each year more than 700 rope rescues in Austria. Plus some hundreds additionally in Germany and Switzerland.
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The crew of 4 ( 2 pilots, a doc and a medic ) that fly HEMS with a S76 where whatching the emergency evac of Albrecht on tv. And all of us thought WTF are they doing?
Why didnīt they just land and load the poor guy INTO the heli?
If the medic crew taking care of him are from the heli, then the pilot must have landed to let them off?
Why then sling load the poor guy? And if you absolutly want to sling why such a long rope?
Looking att the video the braking area looks big enough for me to land the S76!
Why didnīt they just land and load the poor guy INTO the heli?
If the medic crew taking care of him are from the heli, then the pilot must have landed to let them off?
Why then sling load the poor guy? And if you absolutly want to sling why such a long rope?
Looking att the video the braking area looks big enough for me to land the S76!
Why didnīt they just land and load the poor guy INTO the heli?
No, it's the high speed final part. Look here, the medics wear special sharp ice crampons to stand on the iced track.
Helicopter rescue after ski crash - Your News, Your Photos, Your Voice - WeSay.com
If the medic crew taking care of him are from the heli, then the pilot must have landed to let them off?
Why then sling load the poor guy? And if you absolutly want to sling why such a long rope?
Why then sling load the poor guy? And if you absolutly want to sling why such a long rope?
It's the same like the standard rescue procedures on a Formula 1 race. Because on this circus on ice is the same money around
Because nobody knows at which point on the track an accident could happen, the rescue is fully standardized and the whole involved rescue personal have their personal tasks. It would take much longer to carry a patient to the helicopter, to load him into the helicopter or to skiing him down than using this way. And it's not a professional manner in front of a lot of cameras and visitors to alarm the helicopter with the call "Try to land her, if not come back with the rope". In the described way the rescue is allways and on every point of the track possible. No uncalculated experiments!
Last edited by tecpilot; 23rd Jan 2009 at 16:21.
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I think that makes a lot of sense. After all there is only one hymnsheet to sing from which should make the risk assessment easy enough. Considering the knowledge involved in that part of the world/industry.
Of course it's sometimes good to fly the "load" on the rope direct into a hospital, if there is one within a few minutes. Believe me, you can't get more tribute and admiration from the nicest nurses around as if you come down on the rooftop landing spot on a 12mm diameter rope, fully dressed in GoreTex with harness and helmet. A little bit of kerosene odor couldn't hurt. It smells like action and adventure which they never see personally in their hospital. They like it. 
Last edited by tecpilot; 24th Jan 2009 at 06:12.
