Maryland begins replacement of Med-Evac helicopters

[JJR512]

On October 20, 2010, the Board of Public Works approved a contract to begin replacing Maryland’s aging med-evac helicopter fleet. A contract for $72.2 million was awarded to Agusta Aerospace Corporation of Philadelphia for six new Augusta Westland 139 (AW139) helicopters.

Read the rest here: http://www.miemss.org/home/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=6_w4gTi2zrc=&tabid=36


More info on the AW139: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AgustaWestland_AW139

(This article is copied text from the December 2010 edition of the MIEMSS newsletter, a PDF delivered via email. Therefore I cannot link to it online. It is the entire article; normally I would post a snipet, but I cannot link to the complete article. The article is Copyright ©2010 The Maryland Institute for Emergency Medical Systems, but they do not sell access to it nor advertise in its delivery, and I make no profit from posting it.)

 

[ffemt8978]

Thread reopened.

 

[JJR512]

I have recently discovered that the article is in fact available online, at the MIEMSS website at http://www.miemss.org/home/

Here is a direct link to the article. However, it appears to have a session code in it, so it may not work for everyone, or it may not work for long. If it does not work for you, it can currently be accessed from the MIEMSS home page in the EMS Newsletter section near the bottom of the center column.

 

[JJR512]

What I find interesting and odd is that this helicopter, the AW139, has an open tail rotor instead of a shrouded fan. It's a modern design, first flight was in 2001. I thought shrouded fans were the wave of the future. Weird.

Also of note is that I think what Maryland is going with is the long-nose variant. At least in the newsletter, the photo shows what appears to be the long-nose variant. Additionally, if you do actually look at the newsletter (see link in previous post), I very much suspect that that's not the final paint scheme. I suspect it will be painted black and olive, like the current helicopters:

 

[dixie_flatline]

Thanks for posting, always exciting to get shiny new toys (just don't tell the guys down in MoCo).

I almost got to see Trooper 1 land for the first time last night, but guy was changed from a P1A to a P4 pretty quickly. It wasn't pretty.

 

[usalsfyre]

Godawfully expensive aircraft to purchase and opperate, massively substandard crew configuration (a single medic who may not have been a medic prior to being a trooper) and refusal to allow closer private services with better medical crew configurations to fly to scenes. Yep, Maryland has the greatest trauma system in the nation .

 

[usalsfyre]

What I find interesting and odd is that this helicopter, the AW139, has an open tail rotor instead of a shrouded fan. It's a modern design, first flight was in 2001. I thought shrouded fans were the wave of the future. Weird.

Fenestrons have their own set of associated problems, Eurocopter is pretty much the only people who will tell you they are "the wave of the future" (you wanna see something REALLY cool, check out the MD902s NOTAR system). A conventional tail rotor is not a problem, your crew just needs to be able to keep people away from the tail.

 

[WTEngel]

The tail rotor on the AW 139 is plenty high so as not to be a safety concern (still should never approach a heli from the rear.)

As for fenestrons or NOTARs being the wave of the future, both are complicated and expensive to maintain, the fenestron provides a false sense of security (people thinking it is safe to be around the tail because it is closed,) and both are associated with sluggishness and "mushy" tail rotor authority. I think they both have a long way to go before pilots say they are the best thing since sliced bread. They do look very cool though...

Call me nostalgic, but as for performance, the traditional tail rotor seems hard to beat. You just need to make sure your ground crews are disciplined and you have good scene control.

 

[mikie]

Wtf md?!

they're way too big (the new ones)....I've heard they'll have to renovate Shock-Trauma's helipads, among others just to accompany them!

 

[JJR512]

they're way too big (the new ones)....I've heard they'll have to renovate Shock-Trauma's helipads, among others just to accompany them!

Bigger helicopters than the AW139 have landed at Shock Trauma. Blackhawks have landed, and I know the US Navy has landed one of their bigger Sikorsky choppers at least once, too.

 

[Flight-LP]

Grossly negligent waste of money. Their operation could be overhauled for significantly less than the contract amount. For operating a substandard crew of only 2 personnel, a much smaller aircraft could be used. The AW-139 is a massive overkill.

I chuckle at the articles inclusion of safety equipment. All EMS helicopters can be equipped with that equipment! "More space to access the patient", hell you could bring the entire operating theatre inside, but it still isn't needed especially for the minimalistic level of care the single Paramedic provides.

Thumbs down, and I hope the tax payers of Maryland see through the smoke screen and BS being blown up their rear.

 

[usalsfyre]

Just think of the care a true CCT crew could provide in a 139...

 

[jjesusfreak01]

Ahh, this thread reminds me of my old helicopter piloting days, catching criminals, ending riots and traffic congestion with naught but a loudspeaker, medivacing people across the city, all in either a Dauphin or an MD Explorer. Simcopter was an awesome game...

 

[WTEngel]

And as if the AW 139 wasn't big enough already, they went with the long nose version!

I thought things were big in Texas...

 

[usafmedic45]

Just think of the care a true CCT crew could provide in a 139...

It still would not improve outcomes in trauma because calling for the helicopter is going to inherently delay access to definitive care which is far detrimental than anything you can easily and reliably do in a helicopter.

Grossly negligent waste of money. Their operation could be overhauled for significantly less than the contract amount. For operating a substandard crew of only 2 personnel, a much smaller aircraft could be used. The AW-139 is a massive overkill.

I chuckle at the articles inclusion of safety equipment. All EMS helicopters can be equipped with that equipment! "More space to access the patient", hell you could bring the entire operating theatre inside, but it still isn't needed especially for the minimalistic level of care the single Paramedic provides.

Thumbs down, and I hope the tax payers of Maryland see through the smoke screen and BS being blown up their rear

Could not have said it better myself. If they really want to improve safety, they need to:

1. Stop flying everyone with anything worse than a nosebleed from the airbag deployment
2. Second pilot
3. Repeat Step #1 as necessary.

 

[JPINFV]

Ahh, this thread reminds me of my old helicopter piloting days, catching criminals, ending riots and traffic congestion with naught but a loudspeaker, medivacing people across the city, all in either a Dauphin or an MD Explorer. Simcopter was an awesome game...

As soon as I got to the bit about the loud speaker I was like, "Damn, that sounds a lot like SimCopter." Poor Maxis, EA destroyed them.

 

[jjesusfreak01]

It still would not improve outcomes in trauma because calling for the helicopter is going to inherently delay access to definitive care which is far detrimental than anything you can easily and reliably do in a helicopter.

Wake County NC, 2010 Protocols:

Policy 1: Air Transport
...
Procedure 5: Under NO circumstances will transport of a patient be delayed to use a helicopter.

(this is included in the NC protocols, but further emphasized by Dr. Myers)

 

[usalsfyre]

It still would not improve outcomes in trauma because calling for the helicopter is going to inherently delay access to definitive care which is far detrimental than anything you can easily and reliably do in a helicopter.

Guess I really wasn't thinking of trauma (although since that's all MSP flies I should have) and was more thinking about difficult IFTs. From personal experience there's all sorts of stuff that just doesn't belong in a 206/407 platform.

Could not have said it better myself. If they really want to improve safety, they need to:

1. Stop flying everyone with anything worse than a nosebleed from the airbag deployment
2. Second pilot
3. Repeat Step #1 as necessary.

Agree completely. I think there's value in airmedical transport, but not in it's current form. Maybe one day we'll stop killing multiple crews a year.

 

[usalsfyre]

Wake County NC, 2010 Protocols:

Policy 1: Air Transport
...
Procedure 5: Under NO circumstances will transport of a patient be delayed to use a helicopter.

(this is included in the NC protocols, but further emphasized by Dr. Myers)

Also list in ours, but is violated every day by medics who are to dumb/scared/lazy to change their practice. :angry:

 

[Flight-LP]

violated every day by medics who are to dumb/scared/lazy to change their practice. :angry:

The 2nd biggest issue causing the detriment to our industry, behind failure to comply with appropriate safety recommendations from the NTSB.

We have to educate our frontline responders on when it is appropriate to utilize us. In addition, they have to stop getting their feelings hurt and their panties in a wad when we say something is not appropriate. For those not appropriately triaging due to lack of understanding or fear, they should take it as an educational offering to improve their abilities. For those being too lazy to appropriately deliver care to their patients, they should take it as a wake up call to stop being a lazy provider. It is really as simple as that. For the protection of my life and that of my co-workers, this topic cannot be sugar coated. Any true professional out there can see this reality.................................