PANDEMIC RELIEF EFFORTS
The Antonov An-124 cargo plane arrives from Houston, Texas.
Transporting the units to the airport The next, not insignificant, task was to get the three concentrators from their ‘holding’ location at Musgrave Park Hospital to Belfast International Airport. Nigel Keery explained: ‘Here we brought WJM, CA Services, and Alternative Heat back in. We were told early on by the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), which funded the chartering of the plane and the flight, that the containers would be dispatched to India by air, so we had to look carefully at how all the equipment was held down and fixed. We then ran through a checklist, and carried out required maintenance to ensure that everything was ready. With the FCDO’s involvement we began looking at the options for planes, considering initially, for instance, whether we might fly out one concentrator per day. However, it was decided that the quickest and best approach would be to transport the units via single lift, into an extremely large cargo plane, the four-engined Antonov An-124, originally designed by the Antonov design bureau in the Ukrainian SSR, then part of the USSR, in the 1980s. The FCDO has a handling division for moving large Government cargo around the world, and charters this plane, which had a 13-strong Russian crew in this instance, for such work.”
Security clearance
Nigel Keery went on to explain that the containers housing the three India-bound oxygen concentrators were transported on large low-loader lorries, enabling them to reverse under the plane for unloading, with the aircraft’s own crane used to lift them from the ‘holding’ site, Musgrave Park Hospital, to Muckamore Abbey Hospital, the closest suitable Trust location to Belfast International Airport, a distance of about three miles, on the morning of Thursday 6 May, before the necessary security procedures could be gone through. He said: “These were complex for such cargo, but the Department of Health in England and the FCDO, and personnel in the highest levels of
42 Health Estate Journal June 2021
The Antonov shows its versatility and vast interior space.
government, devoted considerable effort to liaising with the likes of the Civil Aviation Authority to ensure that the flight happened. This continued while the Antonov was on the incoming flight from Houston, with the necessary paperwork completed to enable the concentrators to be moved onto the airport in Belfast. Once they arrived, in the early afternoon that day, they had to be extensively tested by specialist airport staff – for example, undergoing explosive trace testing.”
Russian loadmaster
He continued: “Prior to the concentrators being transported to the environs of the airport, however, we had talked to the Russian loadmaster for the plane, who spelled out a number of key requirements – for instance we had to lift the containers in a certain way, which was a departure from our normal practice. We undertook a practice exercise using our own cranes at Musgrave Park Hospital, so that the plane’s crew could be confident that their cranes could lift the containers onto the Antonov. This slinging method was videoed and sent to them, so they could observe the balance and lift safety, since a slip or movement when lifting could have damaged the plane. We also had to open all the air receivers, and leave them open, to empty the concentrators of any oxygen
or air, since the loadmaster warned that otherwise they would ‘collapse like a Coke can’ in flight. There were a couple of days of preparation before we moved the containers to Muckamore. We were also told that in the event of a forced landing, there could be a 2.3 G stress put on the equipment, so had to make sure that everything inside was adequately supported and lashed down.”
Ready to welcome the cargo plane Having left the containerised concentrators on the airport site on the morning of Thursday 6 May, Nigel Keery and his team were back at the airport that evening, ready to welcome the huge Antonov aircraft, one of the original uses of which had been to move Soviet tanks. He said: “On the Antonov’s arrival at around 9.30 pm on Thursday 6 May, both the front and the back of the aircraft were opened up on landing. The 1,000 CPAP machines were then loaded through the ‘nose’, and our containerised concentrators lifted using the crew’s own crane from low loader trailers, and reversed in through the plane’s rear.” He continued: “The plane crew was assisted by Marty Ward of Alternative Heat, who had supervised all the craneage up to that point. Lifting all three containers onto the plane, securing them in the cargo hold,
Nigel Keery on the cargo deck for the last loading and internal inspection.
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