Air Ambulances cleared to land at BC Hospitals
Posted December 1, 2016 5:14 pm.
Last Updated December 1, 2016 7:31 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – Air ambulances will be able to once again land at all hospital helipads in the province, after the federal regulator approved a new safety certificate.
Transport Canada (TC) has approved a Supplemental Type Certificate which clears the helicopters to land on all H1 designated helipads starting Friday morning.
“We’re absolutely thrilled. It’s a wonderful day for us and it’s excellent for patients of British Columbia,” BC Emergency Health Services (BCEHS) executive vice president Linda Lupini says.
Following safety concerns raised by TC last March, Helijet and BCEHS stopped landing at seven hospitals including St Joseph’s Hospital in Comox, Nanaimo Regional General Hospital, Vancouver General and BC Childrens, Royal Columbian in New Westminster, Surrey Memorial, and Sechelt Hospital in Sunshine Coast.
Helijet’s S76C+ helicopters were originally tested and certified for only one pilot, but the air ambulances use two andTC said the company would need to modify the machines. TC was also worried about night operations and size of the helipads at some of the hospitals.
After an independent aviation industry expert tested the helicopters with two pilots on a variety of helipads, TC approved the new safety certificate.
During the ban, choppers had to land further away, with patients driven to the hospitals by ambulance.
In all, 37 patients were affected, but Lupini doesn’t think care was impacted.
“It was a great effort on our part to do the work around, but we’re certainly happy that we don’t have to do that anymore,” she says.
There were some exceptions made and flights had already been restored at five of the hospitals in August.
Linda Lupini explains why and how the hold up happened in the first place:
