Archer County Fire
There is rule in medivac flying that states that the pilot is not to know who the patient is (or their condition) prior to making the decision as to whether the weather is suitable for flying. On this day, we were yellow for weather due to turbulence, high surface winds, and high winds aloft. None of it was forecasted to be over our limits, but was going to be near limits the entire last half of my shift. Well, thanks to my flight medic, that rule went out the window this day.
Lewis is the Assistant Chief of a local Volunteer Fire Department and routinely had his fire radio turned on in his room to keep up to speed on what was going on in the local area. We were all aware of the fact that there was a large grass fire burning in Archer County and were spring loaded to respond to a call in case something happened. As I was relaxing in the pilot's room, Lewis came in and with all the excitement that he could muster, said, "We gotta go, there's been an accident and a firefighter is injured!!!!!" (Yes, he did speak with five exclamation points). What he should have done was come in and ask for a weather check for Archer County so that I would have been able to check the current conditions. If things had happened as they should have, I would have turned to flight down as not only was the surface winds right at my limits, the winds at 500' above the surface was in excess of 40 knots with moderate turbulence. Instead, I quickly donned my shining armor and we all ran to the helicopter to defy gravity and save his life!
Almost immediately upon getting airborne, Jim (a highly experienced flight nurse) said, "Doug, if this is too much we can go back and land." Looking back, I think that was his way of saying that this may be too much for his comfort level. While we were getting our backsides bounced around pretty good and I don't think that neither Jim nor Lewis would have been disappointed if I had gone back to the pad, I said that things were manageable and that, "We are going to go and get this guy."
I've been a pilot for more than thirty years and have thousands of hours of flight time in both airplanes and helicopters...can I tell you that I've never had a rougher ride than I did that day. While we were in no danger of an accident happening, I had my hands full from the moment we took off until the second that we landed. I had to keep our airspeed down to reduce the effects of the turbulence, but we got there quickly due to a high tailwind. Unfortunately, that meant slow going back to the hospital as that tailwind became a headwind on the way back.
I started thinking about the approach and landing while on the flight back and knew that we were looking at a potential problem. The pad is a ground pad on the north side of the six story hospital and the winds on the surface was a good 30 knots straight out of the north. This would require a very steep approach from the south right over the hospital. Because of the airflow over and around the building, the turbulence created by this alone may make the required approach path unusable. I had Lewis call and have an ambulance on stand by at Kickapoo Airport in case we needed to divert.
I shot what had to have been my slowest approach that I have ever done and stayed right on my approach path all the way to the pad. As soon as the skids touched the ground, I rolled the throttle to idle and stated, "I need a beer!" As Jim and Lewis got the patient to the ER, I briefed the oncoming pilot (it was now the end of my shift) about the weather conditions and advised that he wait before going to the airport to refuel (he readily took my advice).
While I was taking care of things from the flight, Jim returned from the ER and handed me a five dollar bill. I asked him what it was for and he said, "First beer's on me tonight." I thanked him for the thought and after finishing my paperwork went to the ER to see how our patient was doing. Everyone that I saw there said that they were shocked that we were flying in the wind that day. I told them all that while it was an E-Ticket ride, it was one that I never really would want to do again.
I found out later that for all his years as a flight medic, Lewis said that was the only time that he was ever afraid in a helicopter. I told him that is what he gets for not following protocol and asking for a weather check!
In this shot you can see the smoke from the fire and the ambulance where is patient and medcrew is located as they prep the patient for the flight back to United Regional Healthcare in Wichita Falls, Texas. I had to twist around in my seat and reach my arm back with the camera in my hand and shoot through the open litter door of our trusty Bell 206 LongRanger IIIE.
The New Archer Fire burned in excess of 7,400 acres in both Archer and Young Counties.
This image is © Douglas Bawden Photography, please do not use without prior permission.
Enjoy my photos and please feel free to comment. The only thing that I ask is no large, flashy graphics in the comments.
Archer County Fire
There is rule in medivac flying that states that the pilot is not to know who the patient is (or their condition) prior to making the decision as to whether the weather is suitable for flying. On this day, we were yellow for weather due to turbulence, high surface winds, and high winds aloft. None of it was forecasted to be over our limits, but was going to be near limits the entire last half of my shift. Well, thanks to my flight medic, that rule went out the window this day.
Lewis is the Assistant Chief of a local Volunteer Fire Department and routinely had his fire radio turned on in his room to keep up to speed on what was going on in the local area. We were all aware of the fact that there was a large grass fire burning in Archer County and were spring loaded to respond to a call in case something happened. As I was relaxing in the pilot's room, Lewis came in and with all the excitement that he could muster, said, "We gotta go, there's been an accident and a firefighter is injured!!!!!" (Yes, he did speak with five exclamation points). What he should have done was come in and ask for a weather check for Archer County so that I would have been able to check the current conditions. If things had happened as they should have, I would have turned to flight down as not only was the surface winds right at my limits, the winds at 500' above the surface was in excess of 40 knots with moderate turbulence. Instead, I quickly donned my shining armor and we all ran to the helicopter to defy gravity and save his life!
Almost immediately upon getting airborne, Jim (a highly experienced flight nurse) said, "Doug, if this is too much we can go back and land." Looking back, I think that was his way of saying that this may be too much for his comfort level. While we were getting our backsides bounced around pretty good and I don't think that neither Jim nor Lewis would have been disappointed if I had gone back to the pad, I said that things were manageable and that, "We are going to go and get this guy."
I've been a pilot for more than thirty years and have thousands of hours of flight time in both airplanes and helicopters...can I tell you that I've never had a rougher ride than I did that day. While we were in no danger of an accident happening, I had my hands full from the moment we took off until the second that we landed. I had to keep our airspeed down to reduce the effects of the turbulence, but we got there quickly due to a high tailwind. Unfortunately, that meant slow going back to the hospital as that tailwind became a headwind on the way back.
I started thinking about the approach and landing while on the flight back and knew that we were looking at a potential problem. The pad is a ground pad on the north side of the six story hospital and the winds on the surface was a good 30 knots straight out of the north. This would require a very steep approach from the south right over the hospital. Because of the airflow over and around the building, the turbulence created by this alone may make the required approach path unusable. I had Lewis call and have an ambulance on stand by at Kickapoo Airport in case we needed to divert.
I shot what had to have been my slowest approach that I have ever done and stayed right on my approach path all the way to the pad. As soon as the skids touched the ground, I rolled the throttle to idle and stated, "I need a beer!" As Jim and Lewis got the patient to the ER, I briefed the oncoming pilot (it was now the end of my shift) about the weather conditions and advised that he wait before going to the airport to refuel (he readily took my advice).
While I was taking care of things from the flight, Jim returned from the ER and handed me a five dollar bill. I asked him what it was for and he said, "First beer's on me tonight." I thanked him for the thought and after finishing my paperwork went to the ER to see how our patient was doing. Everyone that I saw there said that they were shocked that we were flying in the wind that day. I told them all that while it was an E-Ticket ride, it was one that I never really would want to do again.
I found out later that for all his years as a flight medic, Lewis said that was the only time that he was ever afraid in a helicopter. I told him that is what he gets for not following protocol and asking for a weather check!
In this shot you can see the smoke from the fire and the ambulance where is patient and medcrew is located as they prep the patient for the flight back to United Regional Healthcare in Wichita Falls, Texas. I had to twist around in my seat and reach my arm back with the camera in my hand and shoot through the open litter door of our trusty Bell 206 LongRanger IIIE.
The New Archer Fire burned in excess of 7,400 acres in both Archer and Young Counties.
This image is © Douglas Bawden Photography, please do not use without prior permission.
Enjoy my photos and please feel free to comment. The only thing that I ask is no large, flashy graphics in the comments.