Tokyo Fire Department helicopter drops a 70-year-old woman during winch rescue.
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Tokyo Fire Department helicopter drops a 70-year-old woman during winch rescue.
As stated in the title, the Tokyo fire department drop a 70 yr old woman during a winch rescue.
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https://www.liveleak.com/view?t=knTsE_1571017688
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(VIEWER DISCRETION ADVISED)
https://www.liveleak.com/view?t=knTsE_1571017688
Mods: if deemed inappropriate for this forum, please delete, and my apologies in advance.
I saw that yesterday, pretty grim. The really tragic part is that the poor lady was almost at the helicopter door when it happened, must have been very distressing for all concerned.
Perhaps it would have been a lot safer to use a class D fixed line to move the victim(patient) to the area where this tragedy was filmed from and all the spectators were watching.
Or perhaps winch much, much lower
When the crewman is winched back down after the incident it appears that he is beside a car, & the water level is just up to the bottom of the window. Perhaps we rely too much on Helicopters & have forgone the art of wading or using a small boat.
Terrible outcome for all concerned to have survived the storm & then have this happen.
Terrible outcome for all concerned to have survived the storm & then have this happen.
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Originally Posted by [email protected]
Or perhaps winch much, much lower
Did they use a single strap? Or a tripoint strap? The latter would definately be safer, especially with elder/weaker/heavier that might not be able to keep their arms down to avoid slipping out of the loop when lifted.
regards
Another good reason for using a double strop rather than a single.
It so happens that in the last few days I have listened to several presentations about HHO, listened to several winchmen's stories about close calls with single rescue strops, and had a discussion with a representative of a regulator about this subject.
When people started doing this in the 1950s, rescued persons were often fit young airmen who had just banged out of rather unreliable fast jets. There was a military front-line risk profile and we didn't know the half of what we know now about either the physiology of rescue strops or the usefulness of helicopter rescue. It is time for all the users of rescue strops to take a good look at the way they operate and adapt to 21st Century reality.
EDIT
Emergco Evac? How much has to go wrong for that to fail?
When people started doing this in the 1950s, rescued persons were often fit young airmen who had just banged out of rather unreliable fast jets. There was a military front-line risk profile and we didn't know the half of what we know now about either the physiology of rescue strops or the usefulness of helicopter rescue. It is time for all the users of rescue strops to take a good look at the way they operate and adapt to 21st Century reality.
EDIT
Emergco Evac? How much has to go wrong for that to fail?
Last edited by jimf671; 17th Oct 2019 at 12:59.
From their website
difficult to see how anyone could fall out of that.
falling from 20 feet is much more likely to be survivable - yes we don't know their performance calcs or OEI capability but that still seems very high. A lateral move to better ground to ensure she is fully locked into the harness before the long winch in might have been prudent.
EVAC HARNESS
EMERGCO’s evacuation harness (“screamer suit”) is a helicopter rescue personnel-carrying device system (PCDS) that is easy and quick to put on. It is designed to physically encompass the torso to prevent the person from inadvertently falling out of the PCDS, and is safe to use with disabled or unconscious persons.
The harness is put on like a jacket—arms go through the armholes and a bottom flap comes up between the legs to a three-point connection at an approved snap link for attachment to a winch cable hook or other external load suspension line system master attachment point (MAP). The Evac Harness is ideal for use as part of Emergco’s Helicopter External Transport System (HETS).
The Deluxe Evac Harness is similar to Emergco’s Evac Harness, with the additional benefits of grips along the top edge, flotation band sewn into the collar, and a hole in the seat to drain water, making it more suited for use in marine rescue.
EMERGCO’s evacuation harness (“screamer suit”) is a helicopter rescue personnel-carrying device system (PCDS) that is easy and quick to put on. It is designed to physically encompass the torso to prevent the person from inadvertently falling out of the PCDS, and is safe to use with disabled or unconscious persons.
The harness is put on like a jacket—arms go through the armholes and a bottom flap comes up between the legs to a three-point connection at an approved snap link for attachment to a winch cable hook or other external load suspension line system master attachment point (MAP). The Evac Harness is ideal for use as part of Emergco’s Helicopter External Transport System (HETS).
The Deluxe Evac Harness is similar to Emergco’s Evac Harness, with the additional benefits of grips along the top edge, flotation band sewn into the collar, and a hole in the seat to drain water, making it more suited for use in marine rescue.
and how would that stop her from falling?
Someone forgot to close the safety lock, I read on one news site.
Just such a sad outcome.
Just such a sad outcome.
falling from 20 feet is much more likely to be survivable
Fifteen feet AGL was a good figure.
Aerial rescue should be a last or only possible resort. Because it is so quick and someone can be flown directly to first aid or trauma care it seems to make sense that everyone deserves a helicopter ride. It is a thing of beauty when all goes well. I have been around aerial rescue programs since 2010 and in that ime I can recall 6 or 7 fatalities in Australia, the US, the Middle East, Japan and I'm sure I didn't hear about all of them. I'm always pleased when I hear that a hoist equipped helicopter showed up and the crew decided that a ground rescue was appropriate and parked nearby while some folks humped out with the victim.
Perhaps an engineer smarter than I am could invent a hoist harness that is easy to put on an injured or unconscious person, stowable ( unlike a litter) that would not take more than a couple of pounds of load without coming detatched from the hook unless it was properly secured. It ain't rocket surgery to tripple check your work. Guess that just didn't happen here.
Perhaps an engineer smarter than I am could invent a hoist harness that is easy to put on an injured or unconscious person, stowable ( unlike a litter) that would not take more than a couple of pounds of load without coming detatched from the hook unless it was properly secured. It ain't rocket surgery to tripple check your work. Guess that just didn't happen here.
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Originally Posted by [email protected]
From their website difficult to see how anyone could fall out of that.
falling from 20 feet is much more likely to be survivable - yes we don't know their performance calcs or OEI capability but that still seems very high. A lateral move to better ground to ensure she is fully locked into the harness before the long winch in might have been prudent.
falling from 20 feet is much more likely to be survivable - yes we don't know their performance calcs or OEI capability but that still seems very high. A lateral move to better ground to ensure she is fully locked into the harness before the long winch in might have been prudent.
Checking that the patients (and anyone connected to the wire or monkeystraps) are correctly locked into their harnesses should be mandatory whatever height the hoisting is done from and that might have saved her in the first place.
peace
From the Japan Times
Did she really need a winching rescue from 50 cm of water???
A Tokyo Fire Department helicopter rescuing a 77-year-old woman in Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture, who had been isolated because of flooding caused by Typhoon Hagibis, accidentally dropped her about 40 meters to the ground because her rescuers did not properly attach her to the rope when they were attempting to winch her to safety during the botched operation.
She died after being taken to a hospital.
“We are deeply sorry for carrying out the wrong procedure” during the rescue operation, Hirofumi Shimizu, of the fire department, said.
According to the fire department, two personnel were taking part in the rescue operation, in which woman had been wrapped in a bag-shaped carrier and was being lifted up to the helicopter by rope.
One of the rescuers dropped her as he was placing her in a helicopter because she had not been properly secured to the rope, department officials said.
The two were conducting the rescue operation in front of her house, which was flooded by about 50 centimeters of water.
She died after being taken to a hospital.
“We are deeply sorry for carrying out the wrong procedure” during the rescue operation, Hirofumi Shimizu, of the fire department, said.
According to the fire department, two personnel were taking part in the rescue operation, in which woman had been wrapped in a bag-shaped carrier and was being lifted up to the helicopter by rope.
One of the rescuers dropped her as he was placing her in a helicopter because she had not been properly secured to the rope, department officials said.
The two were conducting the rescue operation in front of her house, which was flooded by about 50 centimeters of water.
white water perhaps?
