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Great North Air Ambulance trials paramedic jet suit

bbc.co.uk

1–10 of 89 posts

Re: Great North Air Ambulance trials paramedic jet suit

#2
Seems to me like little more than a cheap publicity stunt for fundraising.

I thought the number one rule for First Responders was not to cause injury (on the scene or en-route) to yourself or bystanders and not to cause further injury to the casualty.

A "paramedic jet suit" just seems to be waiting for an opportunity for the paramedic to become a statistic as they fly head-first into rocky substance. Then I suppose we will be expected to all feel sorry and cry for the terrible loss of this heroic first responder ... despite the idiotic risks they took.

Re: Great North Air Ambulance trials paramedic jet suit

#3

Seems to me like little more than a cheap publicity stunt for fundraising. I thought the number one rule for First Responders was not to cause injury (on the scene or en-route) to yourself or bystanders and not to cause further injury to the casualty. A "paramedic jet suit" just seems to be waiting for an opportunity for the paramedic to become a statistic as they fly head-first into rocky substance. Then I suppose w…

Yes, today.

I hope with improvement in ML it might become safer. Certainly an easier problem to solve than self driving cars.

Re: Great North Air Ambulance trials paramedic jet suit

#4

Seems to me like little more than a cheap publicity stunt for fundraising. I thought the number one rule for First Responders was not to cause injury (on the scene or en-route) to yourself or bystanders and not to cause further injury to the casualty. A "paramedic jet suit" just seems to be waiting for an opportunity for the paramedic to become a statistic as they fly head-first into rocky substance. Then I suppose w…

Scrambling to reach someone over difficult terrain also carries risk to life. As does being unable to reach patients for 90 minutes whatever the emergency.

Re: Great North Air Ambulance trials paramedic jet suit

#5

Seems to me like little more than a cheap publicity stunt for fundraising. I thought the number one rule for First Responders was not to cause injury (on the scene or en-route) to yourself or bystanders and not to cause further injury to the casualty. A "paramedic jet suit" just seems to be waiting for an opportunity for the paramedic to become a statistic as they fly head-first into rocky substance. Then I suppose w…

That was my first impression as well - but I suspect people probably said the same thing the first time they saw a helicopter!

Re: Great North Air Ambulance trials paramedic jet suit

#7
Like other commenters, I agree that this is roughly equal parts awesome (because flying suits are awesome, and also because rapid response from medical professionals in the field is too), equal parts silly/gimmicky/unlikely.

Also, why is the BBC feeling a need to put quotes around "fly" in the article? If a person is, like, lifting off from the ground, and moving through the air in a controlled fashion driven by jet engines, isn't that pretty exactly flying, without quotes?

Re: Great North Air Ambulance trials paramedic jet suit

#8
post #6

This looks awesome. How does it compare to a helicopter though? Are helicopters not available for these situations?

It doesn’t mention pricing but I would imagine these would be significantly cheaper than a helicopter. If each mountain rescue team could have their own then that would really help.

Re: Great North Air Ambulance trials paramedic jet suit

#9
post #6

This looks awesome. How does it compare to a helicopter though? Are helicopters not available for these situations?

They go over that. The idea is that the air ambulance can't necessarily land that close to the patient, the jetsuit can allow the medic to cover severe terrain rapidly between the helicopter and the patient; ditto for terrestrial ambulances trying to reach patients over difficult terrain.

Re: Great North Air Ambulance trials paramedic jet suit

#10
I've seen Richard Browning fly this in person — he did a demo a couple of years ago at San Diego Comic-Con. It's unreal to watch, but it's definitely something I can see not being all that widespread: it takes a lot of training to acclimate to it.

Browning's been doing a bunch of demos lately: it feels like they're trying to figure out the best use, whether that's military applications, rescue, or others. This isn't the first rescue demo, although this one looks like it's a bit more useful than the other one (which was disaster response, and which very much looked like a publicity stunt.)

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