Air ambulance: how sanitary aviation works in Russia
On December 7, the aviation community around the world celebrates the International Civil Aviation Day. The purpose of the solemn event is to inform the general public about the contribution of this industry to the social and economic development of nations. Sanitary aviation plays a huge role in civil aviation. It is not an easy job that requires courage, concentration and high responsibility. How pilots of sanaviation live - in the material of "Izvestia".
Important service
Sanitary aviation is a branch designed to provide emergency medical assistance in conditions of poor transportation accessibility or great distance from medical facilities. It is used in search and rescue of aircraft and passengers in distress. Sanaviation is also used for rapid transportation of victims in serious condition.
The history of domestic sanitary aviation service is almost 100 years old. In 1925, the initiative of its creation was taken by the Union of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies of the USSR. The first air ambulance was handed over to the Red Army two years later.
The Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945. The Smolensk operation. Loading Soviet wounded soldiers into S-3 airplanes (a modification of the U-2 airplane for transportation of wounded). Kalinin front
By 1968, more than 160 hospitals in the Soviet Union had airplanes and helicopters. In 1970, the number of medical aid sorties was over 100,000 per year.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, sanaviation on a national scale virtually ceased to operate. The number of sorties was significantly reduced. In the 90s, air groups were established on the basis of the Ministry of Emergency Situations and in several large hospitals. However, the flight fleet was represented by outdated models, and each region worked according to its own rules: there were no unified standards of sanaviation work.
Rostec State Corporation came up with a proposal to create a single air ambulance operator. The state supported the initiative, and in 2018 the National Sanitary Aviation Service (NSSA) was created.
Today, within the framework of the federal project "Development of the primary health care delivery system", sanaviation ensures the availability of this type of assistance for citizens, including residents of settlements located in remote regions.
The air fleet and geography of NCCA continues to expand. At present, the air ambulance service operates in 55 regions, including the Arctic and the Far East. NCCA has a fleet of 67 helicopters: 29 Mi-8 type and 38 ANSAT type.
Since 2018, the staff has grown 45 times. Today, the organization employs more than 300 pilots, 200 technicians and 40 dispatchers. Most of the pilots are former military pilots with tremendous experience. Over the years, they have flown more than 40,000 sorties and rescued more than 42,000 people.
The service's flight control center is located in St. Petersburg and accepts requests around the clock. NCCA dispatchers coordinate and monitor flights across the country in real time. The crew on duty responds to a call within 30 minutes in warm weather and 60 minutes in winter.
In the regions, the service performs the functions of an air ambulance, carrying out emergency and planned transportation of patients. The main passengers of the air ambulance are people with strokes, heart attacks, severe injuries, victims of road accidents, pregnant women, children and newborns.
The crews also perform duty at mass and international events to provide immediate assistance to traumatized participants.
Building competencies
NCCA flight crews are professionals with years of experience. Pilots regularly have to work in particularly difficult conditions: in the mountains, in the open sea, in strong winds and extremely low temperatures.
- In the Far East we often rescue people directly from ships, and such operations have their own peculiarities: evacuation at sea is possible only from the bow of the ship using a winch system. In the mountains, transportation of patients can be complicated by difficult visual orientation, turbulence, and frequent changes in weather conditions," the National Sanitary Aviation Service told Izvestia.
To successfully perform such work, pilots have to regularly improve their skills. Training is carried out on a permanent basis, despite the presence of specialized secondary or higher education.
- Every year we undergo emergency rescue training on land, every two years - on water surface, we pass an exam on dangerous goods, CRM, we undergo seasonal training before the beginning of spring-summer and fall-winter periods, each of which has a lot of peculiarities of flight performance, - says Alisa Kukvinova, pilot of the NSSA, aircraft commander.
Pilots learn all their lives, confirms NCCA crew commander Dmitry Shchukin.
- I've been in aviation for 37 years, I've spent more than three thousand hours in the sky, but despite this, I take advanced training every year," he points out.
In extreme conditions
The crew's working day, according to Alisa Kukvinova, starts at eight in the morning. And the first thing the crew does is to analyze weather conditions and prepare a report to the dispatcher.
- Then we receive a technician's report on the readiness of the aircraft. All the rest of the time - preparation for flights, passing medical examinations, flights to medical calls, - the pilot shares details.
Analysis of weather conditions is the first item, but it is very important, Shchukin points out. Careful and competent assessment of weather conditions allows the flight to be performed safely and on time, he emphasizes.
Each crew flight is unique in its own way, Kukvinova admits. Weather and wind direction are very changeable, and working in such conditions requires responsibility, concentration and high qualification.
Sometimes NCCA pilots have to land helicopters even on active volcanoes. Shchukin told Izvestia about this kind of evacuation. In April last year we received a request for emergency transportation of tourists from Kamchatka - we had to pick up people from Kliuchevskaya Sopka. For this purpose the crew had to land the helicopter right on the active volcano.
- The dispatch center received a request from Kamchatka medics. It was reported that several tourists urgently needed help: during the ascent the group got frostbite. NCCA helicopters flew to the rescue, pilots successfully landed on the volcano slope at the level of 3200 m. They picked up the injured and promptly transported them to the hospital, - recalls the crew commander.
Achieve balance
Working in such difficult conditions requires the ability to cope with stress. For NCCA pilots, this task is solvable. Dmitry Shchukin believes that most of the flight crew are former military pilots who have no problems with concentration and self-control.
There are no trifles in aviation, and this kind of work does involve high responsibility, admits Alisa Kukvinova.
Shchukin emphasizes thatpilots have no serious problems with maintaining a work-life balance. Crews have shift work schedules, which gives them the opportunity to rest, devote enough time to their families and hobbies.
- I believe that if you organize your schedule correctly, you can manage everything. I manage to fly, study in parallel at the institute, combine it with my family life and go in for sports," Kukvinova says.
Despite the difficult working conditions, the pilots are genuinely passionate about their work. Dmitry Shchukin admits that for him aviation is the job he knows best and from which he gets sincere pleasure. Working for the National Air Ambulance Service plays no small part in this approach.
- When I think about why it is the NTSA, I come to realize that helping people is probably the best thing I can do," the pilot is convinced.
Alisa Kukvinova considers herself a lucky person, as she found her vocation quite early - the girl is in the Guinness Book of Records as the youngest helicopter crew commander. Even in her school years, she spent a lot of time at the airfield and in the club of young aviators, having already decided to become a pilot.
- I have been working at NCCA for three years. During this time, there have been many different cases - with children, mass accidents, and elderly people. But despite all the difficulties, I know that I am helping people, and for me it is very valuable," summarizes the aircraft commander.
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