In the March issue of AirMed&Rescue, we looked at rescue swimmer training standards, and the assets being used by aerial firefighting professionals in Australia. Plus, we talked to safety management expert and industry veteran Bruce Webb, President of The National Training and Simulation Association Rear Admiral Jim Robb, Jonathan Castorena from Bell, and Air Rescue Group about the latest innovations in safety standards, simulation technology, and medical retrieval logistical challenges. NAAMTA shares news about its new global accreditations for helicopter hoist operations and hoist medical transports, and Dr Timothy Lenz of Flight for Life in Wisconsin about training for complex airway management.

Our coverage of the airborne special missions sector includes offshore line and medevac helicopter pilot Ken Saumure giving sage advice about managing the risks of icing in instrument meteorological conditions (IMC); and members of the air medical community share their thoughts with Lauren Haigh on the ways virtual reality (VR) can help enhance training.

Message from the editor:

It’s a truism when they say ‘you never stop learning’. Having spent most of my working life as a book publisher and author specialising in aviation and military subjects, to be given the opportunity to act as caretaker editor of AirMed&Rescue magazine is a real joy. The disciplines of book and magazine publishing are, well, the same but different – at the end of the day they’re both driven by schedules and deadlines, but these imperatives shouldn’t distract from the pleasure of working with the wider aviation and medical communities. In the case of AirMed, this band of professionals includes HEMS and SAR pilots and crews, physicians and paramedics, aerial firefighters, coastguard and airborne police services. Not forgetting, of course, the journalists and writers whose words and pictures grace the pages of the magazine.