what's legal? - Motorcycling Matters

www.bedfordshire-biker.org
AIR AMBULANCE
Medical people talk of the
first 60 minutes after an
accident as 'the golden
hour', when stabilisation
and prevention of
further injury is most possible. In
most cases, road ambulances can
reach victims and deliver them to
hospital within this time, but there
are accidents that occur well away
from main roads or in congested
areas which are difficult for land
vehicles to reach quickly. This is
where the air ambulance is such
an important service, even in a
country as densely populated as
Britain. And as the air ambulance
that flies over Bedfordshire is
more fully equipped than a land
ambulance, it is able virtually to
bring a hospital's A&E (Accident
and Emergency) department to
the scene.
The East Anglian Air
Ambulance (EAAA) was founded
in 2000 and operates two
Eurocopter BK117s, an
aircraft developed in part by
Kawasaki and the most
frequently used aircraft for air
ambulance work around the world. The
aircraft has enough space to convey the
medical team, a patient – and, if
necessary – another passenger. This
capability is particularly important, for
instance, when a child is injured as
it means that a parent can
accompany them to hospital.
The aircraft operated by the
EAAA are also two of the most
advanced air ambulances now
operating in the UK. Anglia
Two serves Bedfordshire and
Cambridgeshire while Anglia
One covers Norfolk and Suffolk.
Anglia Two is based at The Marshall
Airport in Cambridgeshire although its
daily operational base is RAF Wyton,
near St Ives, Cambridgeshire. It is
now entering its third year of service
in Bedfordshire.
'We started operations in Bedfordshire
in March 2007 when the county became
part of the East of England NHS
Ambulance Trust and, at that time, we
were looking after Norfolk, Suffolk,
Cambridgeshire and Bedfordshire from
RAF Honington, central to the whole of
East Anglia, with a single aircraft,'
explained Paul Airton, fundraising
manager for the EAAA in Bedfordshire.
'Our second aircraft, Anglia Two,
arrived in August 2007. We used it to
provide a dedicated service for
Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire while
Neil Waller is the pilot of the Air Ambulance
Anglia One did the same for Norfolk and
Suffolk. Unfortunately, at that time we
only had funds to fly Anglia Two five
days a week. This meant that for two
days a week all four counties (7,500
square miles and over five million
people) still had to be covered by Anglia
One. This changed thanks to the very
generous support of Sir Michael
Marshall of Marshall Aviation, who
offered the charity free overnight
hangering facilities at Marshall Airport,
Cambridge. This enabled us to operate
Anglia Two seven days a week providing
a dedicated 365 day air ambulance
service to Bedfordshire and
Cambridgeshire for the first time.’
He went on to say that bikers are very
generous when it comes to raising money
to keep the helicopters airborne. 'Bikers
throughout the whole country have
always been tremendously supportive of
the air ambulance,' explained Paul, who
used to ride a number of motorcycles 'in
a previous life' before he traded his
Suzuki GS1000S for a pram!
'We've had great support from the
Harley-Davidson motorcycle club in
Toddington, called the Cruisers, for
instance,' he continued.' They're a small
club of 20 or so but they raised over
£2,000 for us in 18 months. We've also
had a lot of support from Oakley
Motorcycle Club, the fastest growing
club in Bedfordshire and have just >
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