JETPACK for GNAAS
 

I thought it was April 1st for a moment...

Jet suit paramedic tested in the Lake District 'could save lives'

Link

“Job on!”...

Rule 1: DON‘T lose references
Rule 2: BE on the ground before the power runs out.

Pretty cool bit of kit. Just needs a hoist.

On BBC breakfast I think they mentioned a 9 minute flight time? They also mentioned using it on mountains such as Helvellyn.
I can't help wondering if the paramedic isn't going to be left up a mountain with however many lbs of rocket gear to lug down?

Looks more like they are trying hard to find a "purpose" for their toy.....

Don´t get me wrong:
Its an impressive piece of engineering, and obviously a great toy.

But i don´t ever see a "medic" using this to get to a patient instead of using a car or a helicopter......or a fire fighter to use this getting on top of a burning building......

As the BBC story says, with the jetpack a paramedic could "fly" to a fell top in 90 seconds rather than taking 30 minutes on foot. That's important time saving. This is rugged terrain: car (even 4x4) can't get near many places; helicopter would likely take much more than 30 minutes to scramble and arrive on scene.

I bet other paramedics are GNAAShing their teeth.
(sorry)

And what do you think how long it will take the medic to take off the equipment, and finally get to start working on the "patient?"?

What do you think how many times it happens that a patient is only 4 flight minutes away.. If the endurance of this thing is only 8 minutes?


Nah....!

But they still have to "scramble" and arrive on scene.
I've no doubt GNAAS are getting these for free or next to nothing but numbers of units are still going to be very low.

I was thinking the opposite - something to spend their money on

I imagine the medic taking the role of first responder, giving the life-saving treatment until the rest of the team get there. I can't see the heli crew refusing a lift back down! Of course the medic is going to need to be based quite close to any incident in the first place given the limited flight time. I can see limited, but realistic uses.

Inventor said he'd previously sold them for £340,000. I can't see the GNAAS being that flush, especially after they've just bought a new aircraft.

They’re be better off sticking to polishing their own rocket rather than trying to fly one.....
Lovely boys though 😷😂😂😂

Definitely reduces the time for the operative to get to the casualty - especially if they become one and the same...

There will be massive issues with Dangerous Goods restrictions, taking the equipment and the patient back together in the same helicopter without the required paperwork....

if you look at it through a narrow lens, yes it has merits.
at one time people thought hanging off a rope whilst a helicopter hovered over a patient was crazy too. What about parachuting medics into the forest? crazy too.

but, zoom back that lens and take a wider picture, there many things that wont get this off the ground in the near future.

My main concern is that this could be successful on great weather days. but how many people need rescue when the weathers perfect? right off the bat this literally severs off a huge chunk of success stories and replaces them with reports and inquiries as to what went wrong..
I could go on, but I dont think i need to convince many of you this is a good idea that will end up bad in short order.

"...the Board determined due to dense fog near the summit, that the jet pack operative's glasses had become steamed up. In an attempt to wipe his glasses, the operative became temporarily inverted which caused the jet efflux to ignite his starboard trouser leg. Distracted by the burning clothing and momentarily disoriented, it is believed the operative incorrectly selected the "TOGA" power setting button which was adjacent to the "Demister" switch. The sudden increase in power caused an immediate bowel evacuation, the secondary effect of which was a CG shift which then pitched the operative back to the vertical. The fecal weight loss combined with the TOGA setting generated an immediate high velocity climb. The increased power setting consumed the remaining fuel at a far higher rate, and the jet pack flamed out shortly afterwards, while still firmly IMC. The parabolic arc described by the jet pack led to the operative arriving in a near vertical dive at a high velocity some 20 feet from the stranded hiker. The hiker reported the operative was still on fire with steamed up glasses shortly before impact. Rescuers were able to use a spatula and cigar box to recover the remains. The hiker walked down from the mountain unharmed."

Gray - plenty of people need rescuing on good weather days - that is when you will find thousands of walkers and climbers in the hills. The MRT's staple fare is lower leg injuries and I've lost count of how many jobs have been like that on glorious days.

I understand the jetsuits are not exactly a quick-don or doff item so time saved getting up the hill could be offset by getting the kit sorted.

However, I want one:)

Could be a good idea, looks like it has to hug the terrain, what is its max height ? What would happen if it had to go up a cliff face, shear drop etc, plenty of them in the Lake district.

Example could it take off and then go over a shear drop or would the pilot just fall out of the sky ?

I want one also, soon we will all be going to our local shops in/on one !

I don’t think it has to stay low (from what I’ve seen of this device elsewhere) - my take was that it was just risk based for this role. Staying close to the ground minimises risk to the paramedic who is basically just running very quickly up the hill.

The inventor said that they can go high but they stay low for safety.

Wow and I thought the Israelis had it all covered by sending in drones to pick up the injured parties!

Gives the term flying doctor a whole new meaning.

Great publicity for someone..... and a change from the death and disease of COVID19...... no more.

I watched a documentary: "Own the sky, jet pack dreamers" a couple months ago (it is still available to watch on BBC iPlayer, worth a watch).
Unless the technology suggested here makes it a lot easier to fly, it will take a lot of training to get those paramedics up to a safe standard and once proficient a lot of recurrence training because I assume it will be a perishable skill.

All they need now is a helicopter to drop the paramedic at the base of a hill near the scene of the incident and then.....

As long as the paramedic knows EXACTLY where the victim is, and that there is a clear area to set down next to him/her, it might be OK. But there isn't a lot of time available to look for the victim or find a landing spot, before gravity finds it for you.

Nearly as good a daydream as the flying car.

Are we all sure this is not just clever CGI? The jet pack pilot would need to have very impressive upper body strength to control the thrust of the forearm-mounted jet packs. Just a small unplanned arm movement might place the pilot in a position of losing control of the arm-mounted jet packs. Very few gymnasts can perform the "iron cross". Has anyone seen one of these operate for real instead of in pixels?

Just wonderin'.

Cheers,
Grog

Was at Bournemouth a couple of years ago - impressive stuff but the questions above about training requirements and skill currency must be valid.

And don't forget the licensing issues.... Finally, this thing is a manned aerial vehicle, that needs to be properly licensed and insured.. With proper training courses at an ATO for the pilots...
😂

And just when it's all looking good for a perfect landing, the jetpack burners set the dry grass on fire and turn your patient into toast.

Just did some look-up on that "thing"...

They say its max speed is 120 km/h.
Its endurance (before running out of fuel) is about 8-9 minutes...(lets say 8 for this calculation).

120 km/h for 8 minutes (2 Km/min) equals a maximum distance covered of 16 Km.
Cut that in half (going there and back) makes it 8 Km.
Now take into consideration that-when you go up and down a hill or mountain, you cannot go "max speed"-turns the operational range into something like 6-7 Km around the base (at maximum).

Then again:
The medic/doctor needs to put on the suit (he will not be wearing it sitting around all day on alert, right?), needs to fly there, needs to take the suit off (he cannot work on the patient while wearing smoking hot turbine packs on his hands), and-lets not forget-he will need his medic pack as well.....


So all in all:
Best case would be a 30-minute-notice to move, followed by a flight of (at max!) 6 Km distance from base, followed by another 5-10 minutes taking the suit off.....

That´s 45 minutes from alert to "start working on the patient"......

How is that any quicker than an ambulance, or a rescue helicopter?

Isn't it all a well thought out publicity stunt by GNAAS to keep them in the press/on the news, when charities are desperate for donations?

Bingo! Ladies and Gentlemen we have a winner!

I didn't see any place to store the POH

The likelihood of having a jet pack and pilot trained to use it close to any incident is remote, you would need a chopper on call to transport the jet pack outfit close to the scene, a nice idea that ain’t going to be much use.

And the paramedic has to trained to fly the jet pack, and remain current when GNAAS will want him to be usefully employed at all the mundane call outs.

Interested in the payload....cant see how much useful kit could be carried, and if the non superman paramedics then take an hour to walk up the medical benefits are meagre

I sure hope they arent doing heli rescues for those twisted ankles.

you wrap them, give them a walking stick and make them learn the lesson the hard way and walk them off the hill.
definately not life threatening on a nice sunny day

It appears a perfect way to create another casualty - a case of 'create your own market'.

Don't forget that most HEMS isn't really made or trained for doing SAR. Landing at off airport sites and flying limited IFR is about as dicey as it gets. One person might be able to get to a victim and stabilize them but moving, packaging a patient to get into a helicopter takes more than one guy who is likley exhausted from donning the suit, getting there and doffing his gear. Just send the helicopter in the first place. Since they'd likley need a helicopter anyway, just shorthaul an EMT in and land as near as possible. Much faster. Although.......it would probably make for some awesome GoPro video. Also, I wonder, can these little turbo jet engines set things on fire? They aren't the hydrogen peroxide jet packs like the Bell jet belts or yore. I've only seen video of them flying off fire resistant surfaces and over water. It was news to people when they realized that Ospreys fighting fires with buckets could actually burn things and melt Bambi buckets if folks weren't careful of the exhaust.

What could possibly go wrong?

The most effective plan so far for reducing the paramedic population.

Ah, I think we got this all wrong....

Maybe the plan is to have a doctor and a medic, both equipped with jet packs....

Then they fly up to the patient, and bring him down on a stretcher that they share amongst each other....

😂