March 6, 2023
The ICSSAR Monday night team meeting closed with a field trip to meet some of the crew of AirLife Utah Helicopter Program and get a tour of the Medical Helicopter. AirLife Utah is staged at the Cedar City Regional Airport and is staffed 24/7 with a Pilot, ICU Flight Paramedic and Nurse. AirLife Utah’s primary role with the ICSSAR will be to Search and Assist. If we need aerial support to locate individuals, they will provide the support. If they find the person(s), they can provide additional support to assist us in getting the person(s) to safety. They opened with some helpful tips and suggestions on how our team can assist them from the ground. This included locating appropriate and safe Landing Zones (LZs), as well as tips on how we can communicate with them during traitorous weather conditions. For example, if there are no wind stocks, they suggested using smoke to show the direction of the wind, or any type of object that will show the wind direction. Another suggestion was to park our vehicles with our backs to the wind near the identified LZ. This will serve two purposes. First, it identifies the LZ and second, it shows the wind direction. The Helicopter used by AirLife is an Airbus H125. It is equipped with night vision goggles and strong lighting sources on the bottom. For clinical care, it is equipped with multiple ICU pumps, a ventilator and all the medications you would find in a standard emergency room.
For those of you who like to nerd out over helicopters, we’ll share some other fun tidbits. The Helicopter is 42 feet from tip to tail. The helicopter can carry a max load of 5,225 pounds. When it is fully stocked with supplies, fuel and the crew members, it weighs 5,000 pounds. This means it could pick up a load of 225 pounds. However, it burns fuel at about 6 pounds per minute. If the helicopter and crew know in advance the load will weigh more than 225 pounds, they know they had to burn a certain amount of fuel to be successful at the mission. The helicopter has a cool down period of 30 seconds allowing the crew to start and stop more quickly than others which allows for faster loading and unloading times. It handles impressively well in high winds which is critically important given wind situation in Southern Utah.
#IronCountySheriffSearchAndRescue #ICSSAR #WeWillAlwaysComeToYou #SoThatOthersMayLive #HelicoptersInSAR #AirLifeUtah #NerdingOut
