23-Apr-2024 Source: ADAC Luftrettung
Large-scale exercise for emergencies: The non-profit ADAC Luftrettung is training special operations with the rescue winch from Sunday, April 14th to Wednesday, April 17th. The four-day training takes place at Mainz Finthen airfield and on the Rhine at Bingen Hafen. The Flying Yellow Angels ask for your understanding regarding the additional flight movements.
In addition to pilots, emergency doctors and emergency paramedics (TC HEMS) from the ADAC rescue helicopter “Christoph 66” from West Palatinate, the exercise also includes employees from the Rhineland-Palatinate mountain rescue service and high-altitude rescuers from the Kaiserslautern professional fire department. The flight maneuvers are planned from 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. The Corneli Bingen rescue service and the fire ship from the Bingen fire department are also used in the training maneuvers.
Possible deployment scenarios are practiced if the ground-based rescue service cannot reach the scene of the accident. In such cases, the challenge for the medical crew on board is to manage the rescue safely and to treat the patient optimally under difficult conditions.
The training program includes, among other things, a medical exercise with a winch and rescue bag on the hangar roof of Mainz Finthen airfield, a rescue of people in distress from a ship on the Rhine and a rescue of people in emergencies on a dam. ADAC Luftrettung crews train the procedure twice a year in order to be optimally prepared for the summer and winter seasons. The training has been coordinated with the responsible authorities and is approved.
The importance of special operations with rescue winches will continue to increase in 2023. The six winch stations in Munich, Murnau, Straubing (all Bavaria), Sande (Lower Saxony), West Palatinate (Rhineland-Palatinate) and the station in Hamburg, which was newly equipped with a rescue winch, recorded an increase of 45 percent with 546 winch operations. The increase results, among other things, from the expanded use of winches in emergencies in the city – such as in Hamburg – and in difficult-to-reach locations in rural regions – such as in the West Palatinate and Straubing. The winch, which is 90 meters long and has a load capacity of around 250 kilograms, enables patients to be treated and rescued much more quickly. The winch helicopters are also available to rescue people in emergency situations in the event of a disaster.
