Wind turbines create concerns for medical copters
Flight for Life and Theda Star are telling their pilots not to land in a wind farm if a number of dangerous conditions exist. That means heavy turbulance or if there’s too many high objects. Instead the helicopters would land nearby and wait for an ambulance.
It’s a plan, not everyone is thrilled about.
On a stretch of land, just southwest of Fond du Lac, Curt Kindschuh lives near a windmill farm. It’s an area where Flight for Life and Theda Star say landing could be extremely tough, and that’s why pilots are being told to avoid it, even if there’s an emergency.
Kindschuh says, “I understand where Flight for Life is coming from. Their decision makes sense, but what about the health and safety of the people who reside in the project areas, and that of those people driving through as well? I have some real concerns.”
The windmills are 400 feet high and many sit in large clusters.
If there is an accident, the only option is to transport a patient by ambulance to a safe spot where the helicopter could land.
Claire Rayford with Flight for Life, says, “the pilots would make a judgement at the time. If the wind turbines are too close together, that it would not be safe for us to land right there, we would land in an area that’s safe right on the perimeter.”
Still some say, it would add minutes to the response time.
Kindschuh says, “at some point, it’s probably going to happen. Where somebody will require the services of Flight for Life. They won’t be able to fly in and land, as they should be able to do, and hopefully, somebody is not going to [lose] their life, as a result.”
By Jason Zimmerman
14 August 2008
Click picture to see Flight for Life’s flyer about wind farm concerns:
Tags: Wind power, Wind energy
Some possibly related stories:
The copyright of this article is owned by the author or publisher indicated. Its availability here constitutes a "fair use" as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law as well as in similar "fair dealing" exceptions of the copyright laws of other nations, as part of National Wind Watch's effort to advance understanding of the environmental, social, scientific, and economic issues of large-scale wind power development. For more information, click here.
