Stevenson was flying to a location where someone needed medical care and quick transportation to the Ohio State Wexner Medical Center. He and his crew checked the weather ahead of time, but the snow wasn’t predicted. It was also a problem: ice on the helicopter would warp the wing and make the aircraft unable to fly safely.
Stevenson said he flew five miles up the line of snow, turned around and flew five miles down the line of snow, looking for a safe way across. But there wasn’t one, and he had to turn around. CareFlight sent a mobile ICU, essentially an upgraded ambulance, to the incident instead.
“If it’s not safe to fly, it doesn’t do anybody any favors to try to push safety,” Stevenson said.
Continuing to fly through bad weather could mean the loss of the helicopter, the crew or even the patient, Stevenson said.
Very cold temperatures and wind chills are likely Saturday night into Monday, according to an outlook from the National Weather Service in Wilmington.
Low temperatures overnight Sunday and Monday will dip to about 10 degrees and feel at or below zero when wind chills are factored in.
Also, a winter storm watch issued Friday afternoon and in effect Sunday evening through Tuesday afternoon called for the possibility of heavy snow. Total accumulations of 4 to 8 inches are possible, but the amounts will be determined depending on if any sleet or freezing rain mixes in with the snow from the south.
Travel during that time could be difficult, according to the winter storm watch. A second storm is being tracked for Thursday and Friday as well.
Icy weather is an additional condition that Stevenson, a former Black Hawk Army pilot, factors into his decisions when flying for CareFlight, which is owned by Premier Health. The unexpected cold weather factors into his decisions and the decisions of the two flight nurses who also fly in the helicopter with the patient.
Brad Hoops, a flight nurse, said he and his fellow flight nurses have previously in critical care and have paramedic training.
In the winter, Hoops said he must keep himself and his patients warm. The equipment he uses may also not work properly in the cold, so the nurses might have to move the patient to the warmth of the helicopter before they can start working with some machines.
“You have to prepare yourself for those environments as well because you don’t know how long you’ll be out there in it,” Hoops said.
Stevenson said they fly mostly around southwest and southcentral Ohio, but also take missions to Cleveland and parts of Indiana, Kentucky and West Virginia. CareFlight has four Dauphin helicopters based at four locations: Miami Valley Hospital; Lebanon-Warren County Airport; Urbana-Grimes Airport and Darke County Airport.
In the winter, Stevenson makes sure that ice doesn’t form on the helicopter and the oil doesn’t get too cold. Stevenson said the helicopter that usually is at the Miami Valley Hospital helipad is kept at the Moraine airport during cold conditions in the winter. If the helicopter does get covered in ice or the crew has to warm up the engine before flying, that can add several minutes to a call where speed is a priority.
Speed does come with the helicopter: Stevenson said he can get from Columbus to Dayton in about 15 to 20 minutes in the helicopter.
Stevenson said in the event something odd does happen during their flights, he is able to fall back on his experience, as his job requires thousands of hours of flight time before he could even apply for it.
“No flight is ever the same as the last flight, you’re always going to see something new and that’s when you just fall back on your training,” he said.
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