Hey guys got a bit of a random question here as I don't have any of my aviation buddies left to ask. It's almost 5am and I live a few streets away from the hospital here, the rescue helicopter which I suspect is a Bell 412 unless they changed it since I last checked flies straight down my street on approach for the hospital. maybe 3-4 times a week now I've observed that once it lands it shuts the engines down and won't take-off for at least another 30mins. Television has always taught me that they land, drop the injured off then fly away. I must point out that the chopper isn't based at the hospital but at the local GA airfield which is something like 60km away maybe, perhaps it needs to refuel? Regards, I should get some sleep now but I know it will wake me up when it departs.
I would assume it's because getting in/out of a running helicopter can be a pretty windy experience that would make dealing with a patient.
I don't know about the specific program you are talking about, but in the programs I have worked with, the medical crew typically is assigned to the helicopter. So the nurses (or nurse and R/T) unload the patient, and go in to the hospital to help transfer the patient, give any information to the hospital staff, etc. When they are done with that, they go back to the helicopter and fly back to their base. Often that handoff takes 20-30 minutes.
Could it also be to prevent someone just jumping in it and stealing the helicopter when the crew has disembarked to tend to the patient? All the best, Andrew.
With the cost of fuel it may be a corporate directive that they don't want them to sit and idle unless they know they are leaving within 10 minutes. How much fuel does a chopper burn at 'idle'?
Thanks for the replies guys, this is probably what is going on here. Lots of chopper activity lately and I've always been curious to know.
Having worked at a Level one trauma center for the past 6 years I can tell you that is common. It typically takes 5-10 minutes from the time the helicopter touches the pad until they are wheeled into my trauma bay. Then the flight nurses/paramedics give a detailed report and help transfer the patient to our care. They then prep their monitors, clean the blood from their equipment, etc. and often complete their report so that they can leave this documention at the receiving facility. They then egress back to the helicopter some 20-30 minutes later to return to their base (off campus) or take the next call. The pilot would often accompany them into the hospital after the helicopter was secured or would occasionally go refuel. Also a few of the older helicopter required a full stop before you could approach or offload the patients because the blades sag as they slow - but not on the newer EC-130's most of the services fly in our state.
