Air evac links page12/28/2023 ![]() More than 500 miles away in O’Fallon, Missouri, Tim Cincotta was sitting at his desk in Air Evac’s operations control center (OCC). You talk about it all the time, you practice it, but like, no–this is for real.” An unprecedented call “You know, you always talk about calling a mayday, but when it got down to that point, I had to convince myself that it was actually happening. get on the radio and call mayday, this is happening,'” he said. Because he had removed his helmet, he had to shout at Coupel over the noise of the engine and rotor. “She was emotional, and I was trying to hold it together,” Abshire recalled. I actually pulled out my phone, texted my mom ‘I love you,’ and put it back in my flight suit.” “That split second after he turned and looked at me with that look, I thought we were crashing,” she said. When he looked back at Coupel, she realized from his expression that they were in trouble. It was now apparent to Abshire that the pilot was having a serious medical emergency. Because he looked straight through me–he had that thousand-yard stare.” And when I got to the front of the aircraft, I hit on his shoulder, and when he looked at me, my heart just went in my throat. “I managed to crawl her and get all the way to the front of the aircraft. Air Evac PhotoAs Abshire explained later, “on any other given day in south Louisiana, it’s nothing for us to transport 200-pound, 250-pound patients.” But their patient that day was a scant 85 pounds (40 kilograms), giving him just enough room to squeeze between the patient and the bar once he removed his helmet. “And then to be actually living it … I to convince myself it was actually happening,” he said. Like Many air medical crewmembers, Lane Abshire had wondered in the past what might happen if his pilot were to have a medical emergency in flight, but had never considered it a serious possibility. A structural metal bar extends over the patient, behind where the co-pilot’s shoulders would be. In Air Evac’s medical interior configuration, the stretcher is positioned on the left side, with the patient’s feet in the position that would normally be occupied by the co-pilot’s seat. There’s not much room in the back of a LongRanger equipped as an air ambulance. ![]() “We were in a left-handed bank, and we were flying in a left-handed circle,” he recalled. It was around that time that Abshire realized they were flying in the wrong direction. Although she was disconnected from the intercom, she could see him mouthing the words beneath his mic boom, “OK, where?”Ĭoupel returned to her seat, put on her helmet, and plugged in. She unbuckled her seatbelt, removed her helmet, and moved forward to tap on the pilot’s shoulder. Abshire asked Coupel to get out of her seat and tell the pilot where they were headed. ![]() The helicopter was now about 800 feet over the ground. They unplugged their helmet cords and plugged them back in tried telling the pilot again. “Lafayette General,” Abshire replied, referring to Lafayette General Medical Center, around 50 miles (80 kilometres) to the southeast.Ībshire and Coupel thought at first that there was a problem with the intercom system. In the back of the Bell 206L LongRanger, flight nurse Tara Coupel and flight paramedic Lane Abshire were attending to the patient when the pilot’s voice came over the intercom: “Where are we going?” A view of the cockpit area in a typical Air Evac helicopter. The patient was a frail, elderly woman who had been sedated and intubated on scene. The Air Evac Lifeteam helicopter had just lifted from a scene call near its base in Kinder, La., north of Interstate 10 between Lake Charles and Lafayette. The first sign of trouble came in the form of a question. This story contains an important, universally-applicable message for everyone in the aviation industry. Vertical Magazine is Skies’ sister publication and the world’s foremost helicopter industry authority. This article by Elan Head originally appeared on. Estimated reading time 21 minutes, 45 seconds.
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