Is it just me....

Daibheid

Just posted on this thread about yesterdays' horrific head-on in Kerry:

"Originally Posted by ngcxt6 View Post
4 helicopters were used and 1 aircraft was put on standby.

2 coastguard and 2 air corps helicopters landed and the air corp plane was on standby."

Anyone think this was a bit of an overreaction - one that could have put lives at risk if another incident required a Helo, e.g. a boat going down way offshore? Any of those birds would have had to go and refuel before being retasked and that could be vital. CUH is only a few minutes flying time and just one of those Sikorskys represents a lot of capacity.

And before anyone shouts lives were at risk, of course I believe everything possible must be done to save lives but we're always dealing with finite resources and planning for the unpredictable is important.

Lucena

It would depend on the carrying capacity of each helicopter for someone having to be stretchered out. If it's three per helicopter, then it's reasonable for a dozen victims.

It's always better to allocate resources to a situation rather than hold them back for a potential one. Having said that, I don't have all the details and only the emergency services themselves can really judge that.

Deenie123

6 people - real people, not hypothetical people - seriously injured were airlifted to hospital after a head on crash. Likely some of them were children, judging by the numbers involved. 6 REAL people, actually injured, needing to get to hospital in potentially critical condition and you'd rather leave the helicopters sitting idle... in case of a hypothetical person needing it?

They're there - use them!

Pigeon Reaper

The remaining CG helicopters were relocated to provide cover in case of a second emergency. If a long distance rescue was required top cover from the Air corp would be needed. The time taken to arrange this could also be used for refueling.

HeidiHeidi

I think this is one of those situations where you're damned if you do, and damned if you don't - situations the emergency services of all colours often find themselves in.

I see people also giving out about the amount of emergency vehicles lined up for the landing of the Virgin flight in Gatwick the other day.

Hindsight is a great view of things - if the landing had gone wrong, or some of the casualties from the road crash had died of their injuries, there would (rightly) be blue murder that all available resources weren't used to deal with all potential scenarios that could have arisen.

The fact that the worst didn't, in fact, happen in either incident (and many other similar ones) should not, IMO, be used as an argument for deploying less resources next time. If you've got it, use it.

Daibheid

Deenie123 wrote: »

6 REAL people, actually injured, needing to get to hospital in potentially critical condition and you'd rather leave the helicopters sitting idle... in case of a hypothetical person needing it?

Classic case of putting words in someone else's mouth. Not what I said and I'll leave it at that.

On the observation a long range rescue would need top-cover and arranging that would allow time for refuelling, Helos fly a lot slower than the fixed wing aircraft used for top-cover.

I like the observation, "damned if you do damned if you don't" as it's probably an accurate summation of the situation rescue co-ordinators face. Personally I'd have tasked less Helos to the scene and left more on standby at their carefully chosen bases but I don't have the operational visibility of all the assets available on the day. I am also thankful that we do have the range and quality of air support we have now compared to not too many years ago!

Pigeon Reaper

Fixed wing aircraft are faster but they're not on the same readiness time as the CG helicopters. The CG helicopters cannot head out without top cover being confirmed and in the already in the area. The top cover will confirm the vessel location and conditions before the chopper gets to the area. This is due to the choppers limited loitering. A long range mission will normally require an hour to organize before the chopper can take off.

As for local cover 116 was moved as the RAF can provide cover on the eastern and northern coasts in these circumstances.

Any helicopter tasking is always done based on the current incident assessment and full knowledge that another incident may lose helicopter cover. This is why only two CG choppers where used. Each chopper will only take one critical patient for air ambulance. They only carry one ECG machine etc so this limits capacity for treatment of critical patients.

We now know that the accident didn't have as many critical patients as first thought but when the initial assessment was performed it was classed as a mass casualty incident. Air evacuation was requested as children can go into shock very quickly and the local hospital would have been over whelmed.

Was cover compromised? No. It's not unusual to have two or three helicopters tasked at the same time to separate incidents. As the primary function of the CG is to save life the air ambulance use of CG assets was also within their remit. Just because the casualties are in one location they don't lose priority.