ERT Air Transportation
UNC Air Care

28 February 2004

Last Updated: 1 March 2004

ERT Class

Tarheel 1 Flight Crew (L to R): Pilot Shep Kaylor, Flight Medic Rob Bednar, Western Carolina Paramedic Student, Flight Nurse Wendy Rash

On Saturday, 28 February 2004 the Apex Fire Department and UNC Air Care offered a class on aero-medical transportation that both covered the objectives for the ERT Air Transportation block as well as gave firefighters a first-hand look at one of the helicopters based at UNC Hospital in Chapel Hill.

Jerry Barlow, Jimmy Smith and Mark Stover of UNC Air Care gave a lecture covering the basic elements of safe and efficient air transport operations. As they finished up Tarheel 1 dropped in for a visit and landed in the field right behind Station 3.

Everyone got a chance to get a close look at the bird both inside and out. UNC Air Care has two helicopters, Tarheel 1 and Tarheel 2, both Eurocopter BK117's with rear-loading stretchers and a two-patient capacity. Their flight crews consist of a pilot, paramedic and registered nurse.

Sara Carter agreed to play patient for the afternoon (yay, someone smaller than me!). After strapping her to the backboard, crews of firefighters practiced hot-loading under the direction of the flight crew.

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Pilot Shep Kaylor answers questions	Patient loading is from the rear
Close encounters with the tail rotor would make for a bad day.	Not a whole lot of space!	For obvious reasons, patient size and weight must be taken into consideration
These fixed-rotors are quite high off the ground. However some helicopters have hinged rotors which may drop well below head-level!	Pilot's seat	Hope they never have to use one of these!
Overhead instrument panel. In the classroom, they described where some emergency shut-off switches are. Would YOU be able to find them in a hurry?	Emergency locator transmitter
Cable cutters are located underneath and on top of the helicopter's nose	View from the inside	Oxygen tanks are mounted on both sides of the aircraft
	Pilot Shep Kaylor	The first crew secures Sara to the backboard
They get a feel for loading the patient first without the chopper running	Flight crew members spot for hazards as the pilot fires up the engines to move the chopper across the field	Up......
....Around....	... and comin' at ya!	The rotor wash blew away just about everything that wasn't tied down, including me
Four-person crews took turns hot-loading and unloading with Flight Nurse Wendy Rash supervising every step of the way.	Flight Medic Rob Bednar was safety to ensure that no one took an inadvertent step into the spinning tail rotor	After loading the patient, crews exited precisely the way they came in
The pilot is responsible for keeping track of all personnel and their locations around the chopper	Sara was a good sport and endured several rounds of loading/unloading
After everyone had a turn, the flight crew loaded up to head back to base	And in the process, swept the field clean of any remaining loose debris!	And away they go!
	They turned around for one last fly-by - and as they sped by overhead they turned on their siren!