East Anglian Air Ambulance Visit at Norwich Airport
On Friday 15th May, a group from the British Women Pilots’ Association were delighted to visit East Anglian Air Ambulance (EAAA) base at Norwich Airport.
Wow! What an incredible experience.
We were welcomed with open arms by the EAAA fundraising team, Luke and Lauren, who enlightened us with some facts about the pilots, paramedics, doctors, and the helicopters, that make the operation happen. We started our tour in the Crew Room where it was fascinating to learn about the process of how quickly they are up in the air from when they receive the emergency call – three and a half minutes!
We were then taken outside to have a look around one of the yellow Airbus H145 helicopters, callsign G-RESU. This was very cool, and you got a real feel for how it would be for those travelling in it on a regular basis. It was very efficiently spaced inside, and we managed to get a photo with the whole team in front of it!
As we headed back inside, we ended our tour in the Training Room, where the paramedics and doctors taught us about their equipment, and how they are currently undergoing research into a specific piece of equipment called SPEAR (Specialist Percutaneous Emergency Aortic Resuscitation). This equipment can be used by clinicians at the scene to be more accurate in the management of a cardiac arrest and deliver effective treatment.
As an extra bonus, we got to end the day with a visit to Saxon Air, one of the flight training and charter providers also based at Norwich Airport. It was a very interesting tour, and everyone really enjoyed being able to get into the AW139 helicopter that was undergoing maintenance in the hangar.
We concluded the tour in their VIP lounge, utilising the coffee machine and looking at their training fleet, including the Pipistrel Velis Electro (electric aircraft) and the Virus SW 121A-Explorer. The Pipistrel is used for local exercises, as the safe range is considered 30 minutes, while the Explorer is used for cross-country flights as it is similar to the Pipistrel, but has a Rotax engine.
We also hung around just long enough to catch a visiting Spitfire from the Biggin Hill Heritage Hangar, who was based there for the weekend to do experience flights. The pilots chatted to us about this specific aircraft and we learned how it had been adapted from the one-seater original. What a great experience to end the day!
Article by Anna Taplin / Photos by Tad Dippel
