For communities in remote areas where the road infrastructure may be rudimentary or affected by seasonal weather, the journey to a primary care medical facility can require days of travel. Helicopter is often the only practical means of transportation between the remote community and primary care facility. Helicopter service providers often operate the helicopter in multiple roles and require quick role-change solutions to rapidly reconfigure an aircraft in the field.
GVH Aerospace was presented with the challenge of designing a role change stretcher system that can carry two patients for the Bell 412 helicopter operator. The limited cabin space in the helicopter required a double-tier stretcher stacker. This design maximised the patient carriage capacity while maintaining a smaller cabin footprint, and allowed the aeromedical crew to attend to each patient without needing to lean over the other. The resulted in:
- Increased patient carrying capacity
- Quick role-change fitment in the field
- Increased operational flexibility for aircraft tasking
This double-tier stretcher system is currently approved for installation on the Bell 205A, 212, 412 and 412 EP helicopters as a CASA STC.
