London Air Ambulance suspension
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London Air Ambulance suspension
Does anyone know why LAA hasn’t been operational (aircraft wise) for the past week? Sources are telling me that there is suspension of service due to regulatory non-compliance.
2 serviceable aircraft stuck in the hangar at Northolt due management failings…??
2 serviceable aircraft stuck in the hangar at Northolt due management failings…??
Have the CAA finally decreed switching from multi crew to single pilot mid-air as non compliance? Operating IFR with VFR copilots?
Chief pilot also head of training/only training captain and also CRM but acting in charity interests ahead of regulation? Too many hats, conflict of interest? Smells a little like an S92 incident not too many years ago.
What about the last pilot to join from Thames Valley who left quicker than they arrived? Not the first to do that either.
Wonder when BBC or others would take an interest in the UK HEMS industry and the cloak and dagger nature, lack of actual oversight, question marks over funding and the benefactors. Why did the previous charity CEO resign after the second MD902 went online? Was it offered gratis but then 'paid' for? Why are 2 x H135's necessary as replacement? Surely given lack of downtime compared with MD902 only 1 new airframe required. And even then for an ostensibly 'VFR' operation why Helionix H135 when a lighter empty weight EC135P2/T2 modified to P3/T3 spec would actually cost a fraction and outperform?
So many questions but as always does anyone ever get answers? Do the public who donate so much without ever asking questions deserve more?
Possible thread creep here, but maybe not so. Are all potential issues linked centrally to a culture of 'playing God' therefore acting as though above reproach?
2 UK HEMS threads at the same time raising questions. Time to dig deeper.
Chief pilot also head of training/only training captain and also CRM but acting in charity interests ahead of regulation? Too many hats, conflict of interest? Smells a little like an S92 incident not too many years ago.
What about the last pilot to join from Thames Valley who left quicker than they arrived? Not the first to do that either.
Wonder when BBC or others would take an interest in the UK HEMS industry and the cloak and dagger nature, lack of actual oversight, question marks over funding and the benefactors. Why did the previous charity CEO resign after the second MD902 went online? Was it offered gratis but then 'paid' for? Why are 2 x H135's necessary as replacement? Surely given lack of downtime compared with MD902 only 1 new airframe required. And even then for an ostensibly 'VFR' operation why Helionix H135 when a lighter empty weight EC135P2/T2 modified to P3/T3 spec would actually cost a fraction and outperform?
So many questions but as always does anyone ever get answers? Do the public who donate so much without ever asking questions deserve more?
Possible thread creep here, but maybe not so. Are all potential issues linked centrally to a culture of 'playing God' therefore acting as though above reproach?
2 UK HEMS threads at the same time raising questions. Time to dig deeper.
EHAAT social media
Unless it was referenced to an incident weeks ago?
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So many questions but as always does anyone ever get answers? Do the public who donate so much without ever asking questions deserve more?
Good question v good question .......... never answered in an understandable non scripted answer !!!
Good question v good question .......... never answered in an understandable non scripted answer !!!
Well BBC London had most of their 18:30 programme about LAA last night, including the morning flight from Northolt to the helipad.
These are key to the whole debate. As per the Stoke thread there are pro's and con's. Everyone agrees NPAS abject failure points to maintaining the independent model. However the lack of transparency and clear abuse for personal financial gain, apparent lack of just culture does mean it could be far better value for money. So regardless of life saving volume, it does not make it right to take the public's money and waste if better value is an option. This appears to be relevant in LAA instance as they show on their website a requirement for £15m pounds to be raised to pay for a pair of H135's. As a VFR operation they do not need H135's and clearly EC135P/T3(i) would be far better value and deliver potentially more capability. I know the payload available in an upgraded earlier airframe is more than a new Helionix equipped airframe. Also why 2? The 2nd MD902 was just to cover lengthy downtime of the 1st but with H135 that's not necessary. Maintenance regimen is so light unless you exceed 500 hours between annuals and as for reliability it is the benchmark. Noteworthy also LAA rises sufficient for a new H135 when they paid £6m for their 2nd MD902 that seemed to take forever to be delivered (2 x YAA airframes were available for £200k apiece at the time). The UK HEMS industry are very good at PR and marketing, maybe that's where all the nosey disappears?
Last edited by Northernstar; 5th Aug 2023 at 15:10. Reason: Need my specs to spell properly.
Yep, AAs are swimming in cash, brand new IFR aircraft, "centres of excellence", huge salaries (for non pilot staff of course) and yet pilots have to buy their own type-ratings to get a sniff of work and have to pay for their own Base/Line checks.
Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.
Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.
Regulator freezes bank account of air ambulance charity
25 July 2022
The Charity Commission has frozen the bank account of a charity that provides support to air ambulances amid financial concerns.
The regulator said it had opened a statutory inquiry into the Air Ambulance Foundation UK after the trustees failed to answer financial questions sent to the board
The commission said the inquiry would examine whether trustees can account for how the charity spent its money and whether that spending supported its charitable objectives.
Charity Commission records show the charity filed its accounts late in each of the previous two financial years, by 94 days and 57 days respectively.
The accounts for the year ending April 2021 show that the Air Ambulance Foundation UK raised £480,000 over the previous two years, including three “very substantial” legacy gifts.
In the same period it made donations worth just £4,000, although the 2020/21 accounts say that it is considering “the possibility of the joint purchase of an air ambulance for one of the air ambulance services”.
The Air Ambulance Foundation UK did not respond to a request for comment.
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/r...ts-expenditure
https://12ft.io/proxy?q=https%3A%2F%...-concerns.html
https://www.civilsociety.co.uk/news/charity-commission-provides-governance-advice-to-air-ambulance-charity.html
https://www.charitytimes.com/ct/Commission_Childrens_%20Air_Ambulance.php
https://medium.com/@charityconfessio...o-d643cf374a79
etc etc
25 July 2022
The Charity Commission has frozen the bank account of a charity that provides support to air ambulances amid financial concerns.
The regulator said it had opened a statutory inquiry into the Air Ambulance Foundation UK after the trustees failed to answer financial questions sent to the board
The commission said the inquiry would examine whether trustees can account for how the charity spent its money and whether that spending supported its charitable objectives.
Charity Commission records show the charity filed its accounts late in each of the previous two financial years, by 94 days and 57 days respectively.
The accounts for the year ending April 2021 show that the Air Ambulance Foundation UK raised £480,000 over the previous two years, including three “very substantial” legacy gifts.
In the same period it made donations worth just £4,000, although the 2020/21 accounts say that it is considering “the possibility of the joint purchase of an air ambulance for one of the air ambulance services”.
The Air Ambulance Foundation UK did not respond to a request for comment.
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/r...ts-expenditure
https://12ft.io/proxy?q=https%3A%2F%...-concerns.html
https://www.civilsociety.co.uk/news/charity-commission-provides-governance-advice-to-air-ambulance-charity.html
https://www.charitytimes.com/ct/Commission_Childrens_%20Air_Ambulance.php
https://medium.com/@charityconfessio...o-d643cf374a79
etc etc
Maintenance regimen is so light unless you exceed 500 hours between annuals and as for reliability it is the benchmark.
https://uk.indeed.com/m/viewjob?jk=6...gle_jobs_apply
Interesting timing. Why a fixed term contract though?
Interesting timing. Why a fixed term contract though?
