Plane carrying organ donor team down in Milwaukee

[MarkLawrence]

A very sad story this...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15587333/

[AirtrafficController]

tragic to see good young people die thay way

[nwafan20]

Yeah, it was UofM's medical team. Down here we have 4 helicopters (I think its 4, one is based at my home airport.) and that Cessna. Tragic for the life of the people on board, but this also means without a long-range jet, the UofM will no longer be able to transport organs over far distances.

[stuart schechter]

They will probably contract someone to do it. My prayers are with the families of the donor and those who passed.

[nwafan20]

A little info on the UofM Survival Flight program:

Survival Flight operates three twin-engine Bell 430 Helicopters (one 24 hours a day, one 16 hours a day and the other for organ procurement.
Survival Flight Bell helicopters fly at an average speed of 172 miles per hour and serve an air mile radius around Ann Arbor of approximately 200 nautical miles. For more distant destinations in Michigan, United States, Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean, transport by fixed-wing aircraft is used.
Survival Flight helicopters are capable of carrying a patient, medical crew, and a full complement of advanced life support equipment. The helicopter is equipped with avionics and advanced communication radios enabling Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) flying in inclement weather.
Survival Flight helicopters accomodate isolettes with ventilatory and invasive pressure monitoring capabilities for the neonate and infant. The isolette is nitric-ready for those patients requiring nitric ventilation for transport.

This is what they look like: http://www.airliners.net/open.file/1215958/M/



Landing and takeoff: http://youtube.com/watch?v=6Yd6BZqtvM0 -watch it kick up dust!

I have actually gotten to sit in the Cockpit of one and tour it. It landed at our school for "emergency services day" (FUN!) But luckily I have never had to fly in it ;)