London’s Air Ambulance Chief Pilot, Captain Neil Jeffers gives an indepth look at the helicopters we use to provide emergency pre-hospital care on the streets of London every day:
“So we use this helicopter, the MD902 Explorer. Now interestingly there are only about 121 in the world that are serviceable. So it’s quite rare. We fly at about 150 miles per hour in a straight line. The fuel on for this aircraft is the same that you might find on your jumbo jet. We carry about 564 litres of fuel. And we burn a litre every 10 seconds as we fly along. It has a great power to weight ratio. A great size inside compared to its outside size. Because the outside size is relatively small. Allowing us to fit in the smaller places in London. And the rotor blades are very high also. This aircraft is configured in such a way that we have two pilots in the front.
In the back we have a doctor forward facing and a paramedic rear facing. We do have a spare seat and this is used for a trainee doctor or paramedic. It’s unique in the fact that it incorporates this NOTAR. The no tail rotor system. So instead of having a big spinning tail rotor which would clearly present a threat to all sorts of people on the ground it has no tail and just blows air out of its tail to stop it spinning. The air that is projected out of the tail is expelled at 120mph. So that also can have an effect on items around. This aircraft is also by virtue of having no tail rotor very quite. It’s one of the quietest aircraft's around. Which is great for a built up city like this. Another thing unique to this aircraft and not many other air ambulance have it is speakers. We have speakers on the bottom of the aircraft which are sirens. So as we land, particularly in the summer in parks that are full of people, we can employ these sirens and flash our landing lights to get people out of the way. And that’s how we make people aware of our impending landing. They are the key features of this aircraft and it has served us very well.”
To support and learn more about London’s Air Ambulance follow us on KZread, Facebook and LinkedIn.
-----------------------------
Other links:
Visit us ► www.londonsairambulance.org.uk/
Support our Service ► www.londonsairambulance.org.u...
Play Our Lottery ► www.londonsairambulance.org.u...
Community Fundraising ► www.londonsairambulance.org.u...
Facebook ► / ldnairamb
Twitter ► / ldnairamb
Instagram ► / ldnairamb