Air Force rescue at Sea on Carnival Venezia

[jimbo5544]

Another great job.

 

https://www.yahoo.com/gma/exclusive-mom-speaks-air-force-113600510.html

[MtnSeaGirl]

Hope the boy heals well, and a HUGE thank you to the Air Force!  

[carol louise]

I was on that cruise. We had been instructed to avoid the outside public decks during the procedure (there’s no helipad on the ship; they had to use an upper deck while the copter hovered), so stayed on our balcony. We therefore could not watch the actual rescue, but did see the planes and helicopters approaching and then circling the ship, and eventually flying away back to land. It was extraordinarily exciting to see and hear. Was glad I had brought binoculars.

Edited May 11 by carol louise

[Cruisercl]

Air medical transports from a cruise ship are not that unusual. I have seen it many times over the years. Mostly in the Caribbean but also on a TA near Spain.

The air transport people are well trained and do an excellent job. Very impressive. 

I have also seen the US Coast Guard do rescues, in addition to the AF.

[pe4all]

We have seen coast guard helicopter Eva's 2x on CCL ships.  Amazing to watch.  Kudos to CCL and the Air Force for getting the boy to the hospital for treatment.

[carol louise]

If I’m not mistaken, this evacuation was a little unusual in taking place so far from land (350 miles), and the helicopters had to refuel in the air during transit to the ship.

[jimbo5544]

8 hours ago, carol louise said:

If I’m not mistaken, this evacuation was a little unusual in taking place so far from land (350 miles), and the helicopters had to refuel in the air during transit to the ship.

Seems to be the correct assessment.  We had two on a Greenland cruise and for one we had to turn back west towards Boston to get into range for the Helicopters.  This was a Journey cruise, the Captain the next day, was really singing the praise of the Coast Guard Pilot for being so precise.

[jimbo5544]

[Linsuesue]

   Our cruise to Hawaii on the Miracle had to have someone evacuated. We were about 20 hours out from California and had to turn back to be close enough to the California coast for the helicopters to reach us. I guess refueling the helicopters wasn’t even an option? Our 4 days in Hawaii turned into 3 days, but the man that was evacuated ended up getting heart surgery and recovered well. It was fascinating to watch the skills of the helicopter pilot and crew. 

[chengkp75]

Coast Guard helicopters cannot refuel in flight.  That is why the Air Force was tasked with the long range mission on Venezia, because they have the capability of inflight refueling.

[ontheweb]

Makes you not feel as bad for paying taxes as some of it goes for a good cause. 

[Linsuesue]

8 hours ago, chengkp75 said:

Coast Guard helicopters cannot refuel in flight.  That is why the Air Force was tasked with the long range mission on Venezia, because they have the capability of inflight refueling.

So the ship didn’t have time to get closer to the east coast and only Air Force helicopters could get out that far? 

[chengkp75]

8 minutes ago, Linsuesue said:

So the ship didn’t have time to get closer to the east coast and only Air Force helicopters could get out that far? 

Yes, the ship's Captain, the ship's doctor, the flight crew, and the, in this case, Air Force flight surgeon made the decision that the risk of winching the patient, and spending a couple of hours in a helicopter with marginal life support systems (even though it is a fully equipped medevac helicopter), outweighed the additional time with the life support systems of the ship to get closer.  The patient apparently had a perforated bowel, and time was critical.  And, if this had been anywhere else in the world, it would have waited for the ship to get closer to land, taking more time, to send out a helicopter, as almost no one on earth has aerial refueling helicopters besides the US.

[Linsuesue]

1 minute ago, chengkp75 said:

Yes, the ship's Captain, the ship's doctor, the flight crew, and the, in this case, Air Force flight surgeon made the decision that the risk of winching the patient, and spending a couple of hours in a helicopter with marginal life support systems (even though it is a fully equipped medevac helicopter), outweighed the additional time with the life support systems of the ship to get closer.  The patient apparently had a perforated bowel, and time was critical.  And, if this had been anywhere else in the world, it would have waited for the ship to get closer to land, taking more time, to send out a helicopter, as almost no one on earth has aerial refueling helicopters besides the US.

  I wonder if the vacation protection plan covers Air Force helicopters and refueling runs? I thought the price for 1 Coast Guard Helicopter was high! It just shows how important it is to have some kind of vacation insurance, because anything can happen. 

[chengkp75]

4 minutes ago, Linsuesue said:

  I wonder if the vacation protection plan covers Air Force helicopters and refueling runs? I thought the price for 1 Coast Guard Helicopter was high! It just shows how important it is to have some kind of vacation insurance, because anything can happen. 

Any helicopter evacuation from a ship at sea is done free of charge to the patient.  The US has agreed under the UN's SAR (search and rescue) convention to take responsibility for SAR missions around our coasts, and most of the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean, and under the SAR convention, this service is provided free.  "Evacuation" insurance does not cover evacuation from the ship, only from whatever land hospital you were evacuated to, to a hospital of your choice in your home town.  And, in fact, sending a Coast Guard cutter to make an evacuation is free as well, as is sending a police or pilot boat for a close in evacuation.

Edited May 12 by chengkp75

[staceyglow]

6 minutes ago, Linsuesue said:

  I wonder if the vacation protection plan covers Air Force helicopters and refueling runs? I thought the price for 1 Coast Guard Helicopter was high! It just shows how important it is to have some kind of vacation insurance, because anything can happen. 

Any decent travel insurance policy has a pretty high limit for medical evacuation.  It's designed to cover emergencies like this.  I pay $250/year for a medical-only policy for my husband and me, and the medical transportation coverage is $250,000.

 

As always, check your policy for your specific coverage.

[ontheweb]

35 minutes ago, Linsuesue said:

  I wonder if the vacation protection plan covers Air Force helicopters and refueling runs? I thought the price for 1 Coast Guard Helicopter was high! It just shows how important it is to have some kind of vacation insurance, because anything can happen. 

As you can see from the post after yours, no charge. As I said in a previous post, an excellent use of the tax dollars you spent.

[Linsuesue]

1 hour ago, chengkp75 said:

Any helicopter evacuation from a ship at sea is done free of charge to the patient.  The US has agreed under the UN's SAR (search and rescue) convention to take responsibility for SAR missions around our coasts, and most of the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean, and under the SAR convention, this service is provided free.  "Evacuation" insurance does not cover evacuation from the ship, only from whatever land hospital you were evacuated to, to a hospital of your choice in your home town.  And, in fact, sending a Coast Guard cutter to make an evacuation is free as well, as is sending a police or pilot boat for a close in evacuation.

   I thank you so much for your insight on this! I guess you could spend a pretty penny getiing from a land hospital back home. I am amazed that the evacuation at sea is free! There is much to learn about maritime rules and regulations. 

[rolloman]

3 hours ago, chengkp75 said:

Any helicopter evacuation from a ship at sea is done free of charge to the patient.  The US has agreed under the UN's SAR (search and rescue) convention to take responsibility for SAR missions around our coasts, and most of the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean, and under the SAR convention, this service is provided free.  "Evacuation" insurance does not cover evacuation from the ship, only from whatever land hospital you were evacuated to, to a hospital of your choice in your home town.  And, in fact, sending a Coast Guard cutter to make an evacuation is free as well, as is sending a police or pilot boat for a close in evacuation.

Free? It is far from free for those of us who pay taxes. It would be best to say no further charge required. 

Edited May 12 by rolloman

[chengkp75]

8 hours ago, rolloman said:

Free? It is far from free for those of us who pay taxes. It would be best to say no further charge required. 

And, I for one, don't begrudge those tax dollars spent in this fashion.  Have known mariners who were evacuated in emergencies, and thankful that the service is there.

[ontheweb]

13 hours ago, Linsuesue said:

   I thank you so much for your insight on this! I guess you could spend a pretty penny getiing from a land hospital back home. I am amazed that the evacuation at sea is free! There is much to learn about maritime rules and regulations. 

Did you think the Coast Guard and the Air Force look to be profit making organizations. We all pay for them with our taxes and should be proud of what they do and how well they do it.

[ontheweb]

11 hours ago, rolloman said:

Free? It is far from free for those of us who pay taxes. It would be best to say no further charge required. 

Can you think of a better use of the taxes we all pay?

[geovet]

I’ve read post here that described six figure bill for medical energies. How does that come to be?

[rolloman]

19 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

Can you think of a better use of the taxes we all pay?

I simply pointed it out that it is far from free. Please don't spin it into anything more than that. The carefree use of the term "free" is one reason why the country is in trillions of dollars of debt. 

[shof515]

1 hour ago, geovet said:

I’ve read post here that described six figure bill for medical energies. How does that come to be?

the hospital, ship medical center and other services all have extra costs that you need to pay for