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Region of Waterloo International Airport - YKF
(06-26-2017, 09:41 AM)danbrotherston Wrote:
(06-26-2017, 09:22 AM)It is mentioned in the article:SammyOES2 Wrote: "Hospital officials said Friday that will add 15 to 20 minutes to the trip but should not affect patient care."

Quotes like this drive me crazy.  It seems highly unlikely to be true, but even if it is true (say super-urgent cases are already by-passing Kitchener for a bigger trauma center in another city), nobody is going to believe it unless you add some more details.

It is mentioned in the article:


"Critically injured patients most often are transported directly from the scene by helicopter to Toronto."

But it could be more explicit.


I am surprised that the crane is a problem.  I mean, I understand it is in the current flight path, but these helicopters are able to land at the scene of serious incidents, which are likely to have navigate around similar obstructions, I am sure they can do it here, and as the article states, even did do so the first time.  I'm not a helicopter pilot, but I'm guessing this is more of a "risk management" strategy than an actual problem, basically, they're unwilling to make more difficult and riskier landings when there is a nearby airport available, and as soon as they get a different flightpath approved, they'll resume using the helipad.

I am a bit surprised that there was no lighting though, if the landing had been at night, it could possibly have been disastrous if they had not seen the crane.

I got reamed out by an EMS tech for making assumptions based on the article. Critical injuries are sent to Toronto, but pretty much any Ornge flight is going to be emergent, so it could be things like cardiac patients at imminent risk of dying being sent to St Mary's.

Transport Canada has very specific regulations about the flight paths around heliports. I'm really unclear on how the city even figures into it. The heliport operator is supposed to perform a new survey when an object is going to penetrate the obstacle limitations survey, but any company planning to erect something that will do that is supposed to notify Transport Canada and supply construction details. Pretty much anything over about 6.5 storeys at 100 Victoria St S is a problem. I was surprised to discover there is no legal requirement to add markers, just a set of voluntary regulations.

This is actually a big problem in Toronto. Sick Kids and St. Michael's have had to adjust their helicopter flight paths numerous times because of new construction, and a couple years ago they said there was basically no more room for adjustment and any further diversions would make their heliports non-functional. I'm not sure who actually officially handles the issue in Toronto though. There is a specified area around Pearson administered by the GTAA where special permits are required for construction cranes, but that only covers a small part of Toronto.
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RE: Region of Waterloo International Airport - YKF - by Bob_McBob - 06-26-2017, 02:07 PM

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