2 Sep, 16, Source: HeliHub.com

HeliJet, the air ambulance company, has been restricted in their use of helipads and is no longer allowed to land at seven hospitals in the province of British Columbia. Although they have temporary exemptions for five of these hospitals, they still cannot land at Surrey Memorial and Royal Columbian and are not allowed to land during the night at Vancouver General. This restriction was due to performance requirements for helipads that HeliJet did not meet.

The province has had to contract in another company, Ascent Helicopters, in order to make sure first responders can get to an emergency. Such a situation occurred this Saturday when a tow truck driver had to be airlifted in a Mc Donnell Douglas 902 from the Highway 1 in Abbotsford and was taken to the Royal Columbian Hospital.

As reported by CTV, Ascent has no full medical interior for the aircraft and has simply modified the interior. The modified MD 902 is smaller than the Sikorsy S-76 used by HeliJet, but Ascent doesn’t have a night flight certificate, leaving the evenings without emergency aircraft. They are currently looking into getting exemptions for night flight at the hospitals HeliJet is restricted from.

For now, patients are either being landed at the closest possible airports or in the case of Vancouver General Hospital, at the BC’s Children’s and Women’s ground helipad, and are then taken in ground ambulances. New avenues are being looked into to resolve the issue as fast as possible.

 

Related Posts

• Heli-One Completes Universal Avionics Flight Deck Upgrade For S-76
• Costa do Sol Taxi Aero selects SKYTRAC Real-Time Flight Data Monitoring
• Universal Avionics ground testing completed on Heli-One S76B
• CHC introduces AW189 in Australia
• UK Aviation Services becomes a Sikorsky S76 Customer Support Center
• JSSI expands S76 coverage
• Crestwood selected as Sikorsky Supplier of the Year
• Canada certifies DAC for Esterline CMA-6800 Display in S76
• 25-May-17 VT-CMM Sikorsky S76C++ Nilanga, India
• CHC Brazil Opens New Hangar in Macaé
• Sikorsky plans Customer Support Centre in Thailand
• Sikorsky Recognizes Helijet for 30 Years of Safe S-76 Flight Operations
• Possible Stabilization for Oil and Gas Sector
• Canadian Helicopters renews Nova Scotia EMS contract
• Governor Cuomo Helicopter Request Denied
• Helijet extends flights between Nanaimo and Vancouver
• Sikorsky Helicopter Maintenance Trainer Advances Engineering Program
• Associated Aircraft Group expands offerings in the Northeast
• First Sikorsky S76D arrives in Europe
• Nova Scotia EMS Tender Decision on Hold