A 57-year-old man was airlifted from Lenmed La Verna Private Hospital today (August 6).
The helicopter, a Bell 222 UT (which is permanently configured as a mobile intensive care unit), managed to arrive from its base in Durban in less than an hour.
With two pilots, and paramedics onboard, the helicopter is capable of flying in all weather conditions and at night.
Pilots Bruce Daniels and Neville Christie brought the helicopter in from a cold and gusty Virginia Airport, with winds gusting at between 30 and 70 kilometres an hour.
They spent an hour on the ground, waiting for the paramedics to stabilise the patient at the hospital and get him ready for the airlift.
While waiting for the patient, they gave six-year-old Adam Naidoo the opportunity to sit in the pilot’s seat.
Pilot Bruce Daniels has over 22,000 hours’ flying time and is a former SAA pilot.
Once the patient was secured, the helicopter took off on an expected 29-minute journey to Pietermaritzburg.
Those who think the shape of the helicopter looks familiar, it is the same type of copter that was used in the hit TV series ‘Airwolf’.
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