Air Corps air ambulance

[EUFighter]

This should be a no-brainer, but as we all know it is and will not be.
The AW-139's are "fitted for but not" (well not always) with FLIR turrets which should make night landings relatively easy. Leaving aside the Air Ambulance part surely it is a keep capability for an air force to be able to insert and extract their beardy operators under the cover of darkness?

[DeV]

This should be a no-brainer, but as we all know it is and will not be.
The AW-139's are "fitted for but not" (well not always) with FLIR turrets which should make night landings relatively easy. Leaving aside the Air Ambulance part surely it is a keep capability for an air force to be able to insert and extract their beardy operators under the cover of darkness?

There’s reasons why it is daylight only and why in many countries it is daylight only

[EUFighter]

There’s reasons why it is daylight only and why in many countries it is daylight only

True, but where night air ambulances are operated it is usually by the local military as they are normally only the ones who have the equipment to do so.
Normally it is a helicopter with an NVG cockpit, two pilots equipped with high res NVGs, GPS navigation and digital map etc. To this we have aircraft equipped for a FLIR system and if I am not mistaken the AC have recently restarted night qalification. It is a lot easier for a military organisation to get high end military NVGs than it is for a private company!

Night time operations are more risky, but night time operations should be a standard of any military helicopter force.

[na grohmiti]

Flir doesn't assist much in night landings. You don't get depth perception you do with NVG, because, unlike NVG, the camera is not at he end of your nose, it's about 3 feet from your big toe. You are either flying IFR, or not. For flight purposes, FLIR isn't an IFR/ILS instrument.

[DeV]

True, but where night air ambulances are operated it is usually by the local military as they are normally only the ones who have the equipment to do so.
Normally it is a helicopter with an NVG cockpit, two pilots equipped with high res NVGs, GPS navigation and digital map etc. To this we have aircraft equipped for a FLIR system and if I am not mistaken the AC have recently restarted night qalification. It is a lot easier for a military organisation to get high end military NVGs than it is for a private company!

Night time operations are more risky, but night time operations should be a standard of any military helicopter force.

It is multiples of the daylight risk

If there is sufficient personnel to roster it (no guarantees), it should be PDLZ’s only

Many hospitals don’t even have a helipad ... thanks to HSE

[Rhodes]

Last night #301SQN completed the first aeromedical transfer of an ICU patient with @MICAS_NASCCRS.

With a Critical Care Doc/Paramedic team onboard our #AW139, the #COVID19 patient was airlifted from @hospital_kerry to Baldonnel.@defenceforces @HSELive @NASCriticalCare pic.twitter.com/sfJJPqu3Jx

— Irish Air Corps (@IrishAirCorps) January 31, 2021

[Truck Driver]

It is multiples of the daylight risk

If there is sufficient personnel to roster it (no guarantees), it should be PDLZ’s only

Many hospitals don’t even have a helipad ... thanks to HSE

Well Beaumount Hospital's pad, I believe, is part of the car park now?

[Rhodes]

'Airborne ICU' for Covid-19 patient

The Air Corps has described its first aeromedical transfer of an ICU patient with Covid-19 as a "significant milestone".

The patient was moved by helicopter from a hospital in the southwest to Dublin at the weekend.

The Air Corps says it was tasked by the HSE to move the patient because of "hospital capacity issues".

A critical care retrieval team from the Mobile Intensive Care Ambulance Service (MICAS) joined two Air Corps pilots and a medically trained crewman on the flight.

Commandant Stephen Byrne said: "It was an airborne ICU. On the night we transported a critical care doctor and a critical care paramedic from the National Ambulance Service. They departed with us from Baldonnel to the hospital in the southwest to receive the patient. Then they cared for that patient in the air on the journey back to Baldonnel and then during a road transfer to a hospital in Dublin.

"This was the first time we had operated with a team from MICAS and with a Covid-19 patient. It was actually forecasted several weeks ago, so we would have trained for this scenario and carried out all necessary risk assessments."

Last month the Clinical Director of MICAS, Dr David Menzies, said some Covid-19 patients were being transported "hundreds of kilometres" by road due to ICU capacity issues.

The round trip on the Air Corps mission took less than two hours, although Cmdt Byrne admitted there were challenges.

"It’s a relatively tight space in the cabin and at altitude it can become noisy, with a lot of vibrations. So it is a significant challenge. That said, a level of care comparable to a hospital ICU is maintained for the duration of the flight."

The Defence Forces is continuing to provide other supports to the health service, including assisting in contact-tracing and swabbing.

Air Corps crews have also made a number of flights to Germany to deliver Covid-19 swab samples for laboratory testing.

https://www.rte.ie/news/2021/0204/1194941-air-covid-patient/

[Egbeygia]

It is multiples of the daylight risk

If there is sufficient personnel to roster it (no guarantees), it should be PDLZ’s only

Many hospitals don’t even have a helipad ... thanks to HSE

Many don't need a helipad, but most that matter do:
Letterkenny - 24hr
Sligo - Daylight + Sligo Airport (24hr)
Castlebar - 24hr
Galway - 24hr
Limerick - 24hr
Tralee - 24hr
Bantry - 24hr
Cork University - GAA Pitch + Cork Airport (24hr)
Mallow - Daylight
Waterford - Daylight
Dublin Tallaght - Daylight
Dublin Mater - Daylight
Dublin Beaumont - GAA Pitch (Daylight) + Dublin Airport (24hrs)
Drogheda - Sports Pitch (Daylight).

All pitches in use are within 5 minutes or less of Emergency Department.

[Graylion]

It is multiples of the daylight risk

If there is sufficient personnel to roster it (no guarantees), it should be PDLZ’s only

Many hospitals don’t even have a helipad ... thanks to HSE

And local planning. We need a law that overrides local planning for emergency use.

[DeV]

And local planning. We need a law that overrides local planning for emergency use.

We have one for Baldonnel and look at what is happening

[Truck Driver]

Many don't need a helipad, but most that matter do:
Letterkenny - 24hr
Sligo - Daylight + Sligo Airport (24hr)
Castlebar - 24hr
Galway - 24hr
Limerick - 24hr
Tralee - 24hr
Bantry - 24hr
Cork University - GAA Pitch + Cork Airport (24hr)
Mallow - Daylight
Waterford - Daylight
Dublin Tallaght - Daylight
Dublin Mater - Daylight
Dublin Beaumont - GAA Pitch (Daylight) + Dublin Airport (24hrs)
Drogheda - Sports Pitch (Daylight).

All pitches in use are within 5 minutes or less of Emergency Department.

Whatever about pitches, best of luck getting from Dublin Airport to Beaumont Hospital by road in 5 minutes...

[na grohmiti]

Whatever about pitches, best of luck getting from Dublin Airport to Beaumont Hospital by road in 5 minutes...

Likewise for Cork Airport to CUH by road. At 4pm on a normal day the journey can take up to an hour. As for the GAA pitch, best of luck walking with stretcher to nearby ambulance on a day like today.
CUH is the first hospital any casualties taken from ships off the west coast go to. Its almost 20 years now since they deleted the old pad (which could take an S61).

[Egbeygia]

Whatever about pitches, best of luck getting from Dublin Airport to Beaumont Hospital by road in 5 minutes...

15 minutes for the 2 airports. Obviously matters will improve once the replacement pad for CUH on campus is delivered, along with a potential 2nd National Hyperbaric Chamber. But the whole point of the response was to show that rather than there being a complete lack of hospital helipads nationally there is quiet the opposite. But let's nitpick instead.

[Brian McGrath]

Many don't need a helipad, but most that matter do:
Letterkenny - 24hr
Sligo - Daylight + Sligo Airport (24hr)
Castlebar - 24hr
Galway - 24hr
Limerick - 24hr
Tralee - 24hr
Bantry - 24hr
Cork University - GAA Pitch + Cork Airport (24hr)
Mallow - Daylight
Waterford - Daylight
Dublin Tallaght - Daylight
Dublin Mater - Daylight
Dublin Beaumont - GAA Pitch (Daylight) + Dublin Airport (24hrs)
Drogheda - Sports Pitch (Daylight).

All pitches in use are within 5 minutes or less of Emergency Department.

Sligo Hospital now has a new improved & elevated Helipad, landing trials were done yesterday with IAC & IRCG so it will shortly be 24hr for both Services, it wasnt in use by IRCG for quite sometime as was either Letterkenny as it was insufficient for safe S92 Operations, Letterkenny still had the S92 going there but they were landing at a pitch beside the Helipad, so both now Sligo & Letterkenny addressed this with a new pad each.