United Express Facepalm

[derg]

Not even when you have a bona fide medical situation on the aircraft?


Sent from my TRS-80

 

[cmill]

Still don't believe anything going 121 is considered important for the designation - sorry.

I never used lifeguard for blood samples. If you tell the broker you cant take the trip and they say "no big deal, they'll just drive them," then its not really important at all. If it was REALLY that important, I wouldn't put it on a 121 flight.

I see what your saying about diluting the significance of life guard, but I believe an organ is reason enough to use it. Life guard still isnt the same thing as medical emergency, not like you're getting all the stops pulled out. From what ive seen you'll basically just be first for the runway, and get to be first out of the hold.

 

[cmill]

Not even when you have a bona fide medical situation on the aircraft?


Sent from my TRS-80

Then i would say medical emergency.

Edit:

I thought there was an AC dealing with this, but this is all i could find:

http://www.faa.gov/air_traffic/publications/ATpubs/FSS/FSS_0401.html

4-1-3. OPERATIONAL PRIORITY
a. Emergency situations are those where life or property are in immediate danger. Aircraft in distress have priority over all other aircraft.
b. Provide priority service to civilian air ambulance (LIFEGUARD), or military air evacuation (AIR EVAC, MED EVAC) flights. When requested by the pilot, provide notifications to expedite ground handling of patients, vital organs, or urgently needed medical materials. Assist the pilots of air ambulance/evacuation aircraft to avoid areas of significant weather and turbulent conditions.
NOTE-
Air carrier/Air taxi usage of “Lifeguard” call sign indicates that operational priority is requested.
c. Provide maximum assistance to search and rescue (SAR) aircraft performing a SAR mission.
d. Provide special handling as required to expedite Flight Check and SAFI aircraft.

 

[I_Money]

Organs that need priority handling are always flown 135. I mean Angel Flight has even used the LifeGuard call sign - that makes me laugh!!! It is like me putting lights and sirens on to drive to the emergency department for work.

 

[Boris Badenov]

I've flown organs 135 cargo and now fly patients 135. The designation is vastly overused, and as I Money points out, this dilutes its importance. I'd even go so far as to guess that most of the organ flights I had back in the day were more time critical than most of the patient flights I have now. There are certainly exceptions, and I suspect that in more remote areas the numbers would change, but in 90% of what I fly now, a couple of minutes isn't going to make any difference. That said, I file "Lifeguard" when a patient is onboard, because I'm not a Doctor (although I play one on JC). Only in extraordinary circumstances do I file it on the outbound leg, though, and I strongly suspect that a lot of guys who fly air-ambo file it every time with the click of a button. Lame.

 

[murphfly]

I only file "Lifeguard" with a patient on board or enroute to pick up a patient off-base. Otherwise I'm just plain ole King Air blah blah blah..

 

[Ralgha]

Dispatch files us lifeguard and ATC calls us lifeguard. There've been a couple times where that's how I found out we had something on board. Get over it.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus that ate your iPhone.

 

[Boris Badenov]

No one's blaming you, but it's patently ridiculous that a "Lifeguard" flight is being flown by guys who don't even know that they're a Lifeguard till someone tells them. Granted, most of the really critical stuff is flown by some badasses in helos under VFR, but I've had at least a few flights where I, and, more importantly, my crew thought that the situation was very serious. When the callsign is abused, it's inevitably going to be taken less seriously. It seems to me that there ought to be a medical equivalent of "Pan-Pan" vs. "Mayday".

 

[Screaming_Emu]

We get it...medevac guys are badasses...

...apparently with small dongers.

 

[cmill]

I remember hearing a lifeguard flight ask for direct to the airport and get turned down. ATC told them they could give it to them if they had a medical emergency. So, i guess thats the pan pan/may day.

 

[XLR99]

Organs that need priority handling are always flown 135. I mean Angel Flight has even used the LifeGuard call sign - that makes me laugh!!! It is like me putting lights and sirens on to drive to the emergency department for work.

This may have changed since I haven't been a transplant coordinator for about 6 years, but at that time, many kidneys traveled by 121, which was coordinated by UNOS, the national listing agency. There were some that became non-transplantable due to delays.

 

[scooter2525]

I only file "Lifeguard" with a patient on board or enroute to pick up a patient off-base. Otherwise I'm just plain ole King Air blah blah blah..

Diddo.

 

[derg]

We get it...medevac guys are badasses...

...apparently with small dongers.

Bad cholesterol too.

 

[dustoff17]

I only file "Lifeguard" with a patient on board or enroute to pick up a patient off-base. Otherwise I'm just plain ole King Air blah blah blah..

I very rarely used "Lifeguard" even with a patient on board; whether rotor OR fixed-wing. With patients, I almost never used it rotor because I didn't mix in with most traffic anyway. And again with patients in the fixed-wing, I only used it when I could hear that the traffic was heavy, when the airport was IMC, and when I started getting ATC delays.
I'm with I Money here, it is WAY overused...........

 

[dasleben]

Still don't believe anything going 121 is considered important for the designation - sorry.

You don't know for sure, though. You simply use the callsign shown on the paperwork.

Our job is to fly the airplane, not determine how critical the patient is, or what the blood is for. I'm not a doctor.

 

[murphfly]

I very rarely used "Lifeguard" even with a patient on board; whether rotor OR fixed-wing. With patients, I almost never used it rotor because I didn't mix in with most traffic anyway. And again with patients in the fixed-wing, I only used it when I could hear that the traffic was heavy, when the airport was IMC, and when I started getting ATC delays.
I'm with I Money here, it is WAY overused...........

Every patient deserves to get to the hospital as expeditiously as possible. I never know anything about the patient when I file the flightplan nor do I care what the traffic is going to be. I file "Lifeguard" because I'm an ambulance and I'm going to get there as quickly as I can. I don't anyone would argue with me that air ambulance flights with patients on board are overusing the status. Now pilots that file it on an empty return flight...that's not right.

 

[dustoff17]

Every patient deserves to get to the hospital as expeditiously as possible. I never know anything about the patient when I file the flightplan nor do I care what the traffic is going to be. I file "Lifeguard" because I'm an ambulance and I'm going to get there as quickly as I can. I don't anyone would argue with me that air ambulance flights with patients on board are overusing the status. Now pilots that file it on an empty return flight...that's not right.

Couldn't agree more! This is the very same reason I used it if I determined that my route would not be the most expeditious while a patient was on board.........

I'm not worried or concerned about the patient in back either, my concentration is what's in front of the plane/helo.

 

[Dugie8]

I file lifeguard on every leg. It's about more than just the patient onboard at the time.

 

[scooter2525]

Better go lifeguard.

 

[Maurus]

I have to wonder if this is a trick that dispatch would use knowing the pilot likely has no idea what is on board just to save a few minute enroute.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2