LA COUNTY FIRE DEPARTMENT AIR OPERATIONS continued from p. 31
terrain, altitudes, weather, and victim considerations, each one potentially raising the risk to an unacceptable level. Once on-scene, the topside paramedic,
In the midst of a long
day of flying, training, responding to calls, and sitting on watch,
crew chief paramedic Mike Nelson previews the location of an
incipient callout on his mobile phone while the author
guides the Sikorsky S-70i away from its base at Barton
Heliport (KPAI) in
Pacoima, California. (HAI/Mark Bennett)
who typically rides in the left seat of the cockpit during flights, moves to the cabin to operate the hoist that lowers the downside paramedic to the ground. Te pilot is then alone in the cockpit, in true solo flight. During hoist operations, the pilot must
divide his or her attention between monitoring the aircraft’s systems, a particularly important task when oper- ating the aircraft at the limits of its performance, and maintaining a stationary out-of-ground-effect hover. Te pilot depends on the topside paramedic oper- ating the hoist to communicate clearly and succinctly about the movement of the aircraft in and around the hoist location, at times down to 1-ft. increments. Te topside paramedic must also communicate to the pilot about the location and movement of the downside paramedic dangling from the hoist cable. After inserting the downside paramedic into the scene,
the topside paramedic performs a radio check to ensure that communications between the aircraft crew and the downside crew are operational. While the aircraft circles the response area, the downside paramedic assesses the
In the mountains northeast of Malibu,
fire suppression aides (FSAs) from Air
Attack 8-1 file back to their facility, LACFD
Camp 8, after a short flight that launched on what turned out to be a false alarm. (HAI/Mark Bennett)
needs of the victim, communicates to the aircraft crew any additional needs for equipment or support, provides any on-site treatment, prepares the victim for extraction, and then calls for extraction. While this process is taking place, the paramedics deter-
mine the appropriate destination hospital, and the pilot calculates routing, fuel, and weather considerations. After being called in by the downside paramedic, the aircraft will extract the victim and downside paramedic and fly directly to the destination hospital. Once the aircraft has landed
34 ROTOR SEPTEMBER 2023
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