Captain Eduardo Prato shares a typical day in the life of a pilot flying as part of East Anglian Air Ambulance’s Anglia Two Cambridge crew.
Arrival to the crew room
Arriving on shift, I greet the crew: my co-pilot, a doctor and a paramedic. We are a close-knit team and the welcome is always warm. Sometimes, I may not have seen my colleagues for a few weeks due to rotas, but we quickly snap into team mode and shift our concentration to the essential elements at the start of every shift.
Aircraft checks
My first job is to check the aircraft. We roll up the hangar door and pull the helicopter onto the helipad using a piece of equipment called a helilift. Then we’ll methodically run through a thorough checklist. Once myself and my co-pilot have completed our system checks, we’ll have ten minutes together to confirm we agree the aircraft is safe to fly.
We’ll then inform the clinical crew members that the aircraft is online, ready for taskings. A full crew briefing follows where we check we’re fit for the shift. We talk about plans for the day, the weather forecast and how that might affect taskings by air, plus anything else we need to know. Then we’ll concentrate on paperwork while we wait for the phone to ring.
If we’re tasked
When the red phone rings, we all stop what we’re doing. We hear it throughout the building – and that’s deliberate. It’s a stark reminder for everybody on base that someone’s day has just been turned completely upside down.
The clinical team take down the details of the emergency and a grid reference of the location. I’ll then check our iPad for maps, airspace, terrain, power lines and other hazards, as well as potential landing sites. In the meantime, my co-pilot will start the helicopter so we can lift in the fastest time possible.
Once onboard, in our headsets, we’ll hear the voices of air traffic control. En route, we pay attention for our callsigns: ‘Helimed 88 Alpha’ if we’re on our way to an emergency tasking – which gives us priority in the airspace – and ‘Helimed 88 Echo’ if we’re returning to base.
On-scene support
When we land and we’re satisfied it is safe, the medical crew leaves the aircraft and heads straight to the patient(s). The engines are shut down and we can hear the conversations between the emergency services and our crew, and checklists that are carried out. Once the patient is stable, we start the engines again and fly to the most appropriate hospital setting based on the patient’s injuries.
Back to base
Once the patient has been handed over to the hospital team, we return to base and prepare for whatever comes next. The helicopter is refuelled, if needed, paperwork is completed and the aircraft is checked so that it is ready for another tasking at a moment’s notice.
Some shifts are busy and the phone may ring again almost immediately. Other times, there’s an opportunity to catch up with the crew before the next call comes in. Whatever the day brings, our focus remains the same: making sure we are ready to respond safely and quickly whenever we’re needed.
East Anglian Air Ambulance recently embarked on its biggest-ever fundraising appeal to build a new air base. Make a donation at eaaa.org.uk/base