There are eleven BK117's similar to the one pictured in my company's fleet. It's not out of the ordinary for three or four of us to be flying at any given time.Last night, on my way into Bigtown with a non-helmet using motorcycle accident victim, our #3, #4, #7, #9, and #11 aircraft were all airborne, talking on our company radio. The #4 aircraft had just called to report his takeoff, and our dispatcher gave this report about a patient similar to the one I had on board:
"Your patient is a 23 year old male, victim of a motorcycle accident. Your patient was not wearing a helmet. He has a head injury, a broken femur, multiple abrasions and lacerations. I also need to tell you that at this time his parents are reluctant to release him to fly."
Then, five minutes later-
"****#4, return to base, your flight is canceled. Patient will travel by ground."
Amazing!
Here's a guy brave and intelligent enough to ride a motorcycle without a helmet, yet his parents are afraid for him to fly in a helicopter!
Whassup with that?
2 comments:
Could it be - he was no long a patient???
If that is not the case, hopefully, involved parents can influence future behavior. I do understand that parental influence is really a mute point, sometimes. Too many other influences that teens and young adults 'have to' pay attention to. But, bottom line is - W/O a helmet - in this case, injuries are not so good. Head injuries can sometimes be a life sentence. With a helmet - a broken femur, multiple abrasions and lacerations does not seem so bad and mostly mendable. But, it is still a choice in many states. Even with laws, people still choose whether to obey them or not. And like many issues, I can see both sides. Not much different than some other issues. It's not the gun that kills.... It's the person that makes that choice to pull the trigger. And you could relate the helmet law to the seat belt law. What's the difference? Probably several subtle differences, but, if the intent is to save lives..... Confusing rationale and a political system run amok & heavily influenced by big money. Most likely. Or is it influenced mostly by the vote - OR the threat of not getting that vote? Maybe.
Lots of 'questions'. Any real answers? Is it all about making the right choice? Most of the time, it is....
I think the reason given was the reason we didn't fly him, TD. Maybe his parents thought he had already used up all his luck...
No way to know for sure. But our dispatchers are good at relaying as much information as they can to us, and their comment was that this patient "was traveling by ground".
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