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Well sometimes they have the help of the police. Show on UK TV this week had air ambulance landing in area thoughtfully taped off by police right next to incident. Only problem was that the taped off area was a crime scene not a landing area. Pilot - was that FOD? - doctor no, I think it was evidence ![Cheesy :D](https://www.eevblog.com/forum/Smileys/default/cheesy.gif)
Over here all medivac landings are pre-determined and agreed to by all involved to insure safety. And it may or may not be directly near the actual incident depending on terrain/location. Typically the closest parking lot or open field.
I think the mode of operation is different in the USA, to UK. In the UK the helicopter is used as a fast response critical care service carrying skilled doctors and advanced parmedics. They often perform advanced treatments, even up to opening the chest to carry out direct heart massage, at the scene. The helicoptor carries advanced equipment. Thus it is important to get them on scene ASAP. Pre-arranging a landing site would cause too much delay resulting in loss of life.
Many medical flights in the USA are just patient transfers with a nurse or paramedic.
Oh and in the UK they are free, so they can't sort out a landing site while waiting for the insurance company to authorise payment.
Yes that is quite true, I didn't like to stick my neck out about the USA ones in case I was wrong about them. The other thing to note about UK mercy flights is that they fly the direct route and ATC give them the green light and priority if their route takes them through any controlled airspace. I use airband scanner when I'm out photographing aircraft at my local airfield, or major airports and airshows and they can be frequently heard on the radio informing the ATC of their intention minutes before appearing on scene. The ATC then instantly tell all aircraft to give way and even planes doing air displays are told to halt their display with immediate effect to stand down and vacate the area until further notice. Whats is even more amazing is that these air ambulances are all run by charities, UK Government will not fund them
![Rant :rant:](https://www.eevblog.com/forum/Smileys/default/rant.gif)
Here in Canada is a bit of a hybrid. Most of the air ambulance flights are for patient transfers. It is possible to recognize the pattern if you live along a flight path. I usually see a helicopter pass over a few times a week just after supper time and before bedtime of the garcon. However, anything outside of that pattern is an emergency flight; I am close enough to one of the destination hospitals that I see the helicopters performing this role as well.
Here, they do carry advanced paramedics, but they do not perform those medical procedures as you describe in the UK, at least as much as I am aware. The goal is rapid transportation to a hospital with advanced care/trauma/emergency departments. In these cases, generally the regular EMS services arrive first for initial care. They will set things up for the air transport. If you watch the ambulance/police/fire crews carefully, you may notice some have light blue helmets instead of the regular colour. Those are the personnel trained to guide the aircraft and setup landing zones.
Back in the day, not so long ago as some here, I was heavily involved in the car rally, mountain biking and similar scenes. Those were fun activities to participate in, but I frequently wound up running some of the events as well. Yep, for that reason, I had my blue helmet for a short time. According to some of the stories here lately, maybe I would have been better off chasing the fair maidens, or at least trying to learn how to ...
![Laughing :-DD](https://www.eevblog.com/forum/Smileys/default/smiley_laughing.gif)
Back on topic, the Fluke 8842A looks interesting, but I need to find a Canadian source. That would be a useful instrument for me to actually use. However, I have convinced myself that the 8000A is what I used back in highschool, although not entirely sure, so maybe acquisition of a 8000A takes higher priority?
EDIT: It is much the same here as med described for the US:
Sorry, but that is incorrect....at least in these parts. The medivac is used for the same purposes as you indicated. A safe landing zone as close the incident as possible is set up prior to take off from base or while the helicopter is in the air. And the patient brought to the landing zone as quick as possible via ambulance if a significant distance away. Which can happen because we have large forested areas where a landing isn't possible. And the EMT's on the scene determine the need for a medivac, not the insurance companies.