Cornwall Air Ambulance seeks night landing sites
The UK-based air ambulance is looking for at least 30 new potential night landing sites, with the aim of improving response during hours of darkness
Cornwall Air Ambulance (CAA) is appealing to sports clubs across the county in particular, as pitches are ideal landing areas. The air ambulance charity already has a list of 30 ‘pre-surveyed’ locations across Cornwall – with the new appeal aiming to substantially increase this number.
Chief Pilot at Cornwall Air Ambulance, Captain Adam Smith, said: “During the day we aim to launch to taskings in under five minutes as we can ‘see’ the scene and select a suitable landing spot when overhead. During the hours of darkness, flying a helicopter becomes a greater challenge, and having increased pre-surveyed site options will help save us up to 15 minutes of planning time, which can make a crucial difference in a patient’s outcome.
“The most reliable type of site is anywhere really that has a good clear landing area such as a sports pitch, whether that be football, rugby or cricket, and it needs to be accessible overnight. I believe there to be around 500 sports pitches for example in Cornwall, if we could get 1/5 of these to sign up as landing sites, this would triple our current offering,” he added.
Night landing sites ‘dramatically’ reduce response times
“Having more pre-surveyed and approved landing sites across Cornwall would help to dramatically reduce our launch times at night, therefore making the crew more efficient and meaning they can reach patients faster,” said Tim Bunting, Chief Executive at Cornwall Air Ambulance. “Offering landing sites at night across Cornwall will make a crucial difference to our operation, so we’re really hoping that people will step forward to help us out, as they have so often done for the charity.”
CAA recommended that organizations looking to provide a potential night landing site should contact their Head of Operations, Andrew ‘Alf’ Evans, by phone on 01637 889926, or by email at [email protected].
Neighboring air ambulance charity, Devon Air Ambulance, has also been working to establish new night landing sites at sports clubs in the past year, including two which opened in April, in Tavistock and Otterton.