Medical Helicopter Evacuation Question

[Cloud9 Bob]

I know there was one of these on Scarlet Lady as it approached Portugal recently. I believe someone said that the decks were off limits during the process (as they should be). Since the Lady Ships all have an enclosed bow, that leaves the midship and stern for a helicopter to send down the basket. Can anyone shed light on how VV does this? The stern has that big monster net that could be hazardous to a rescue persons feet. The midship has some open deck on both sides (near the pool) that can be cleared of tables and chairs. My guess though is the stern with something floor-like that can cover the net. Anyone know how the helicopter rescues are accomplished on the VV fleet?

[Rogueperson]

From what I heard, they took the guy off the Deck 16 running track.  I was on this cruise and surprisingly awake when they did it, though I did not seek out a way to view the helicopters.  It was done in like 30 minutes, I was surprised how fast they did it.

[cantgetin]

Another cruiser posted some photos of the helicopter....we were asleep.

[Cloud9 Bob]

6 hours ago, Rogueperson said:

From what I heard, they took the guy off the Deck 16 running track

 

I can see that now that you mention it.

 

4 hours ago, cantgetin said:

Another cruiser posted some photos of the helicopter....we were asleep.

 

The nerve of you going to sleep when I want to know something!!!

And you were doing so well with the bacon reports 🤣

[cantgetin]

1 hour ago, Cloud9 Bob said:

 

 

The nerve of you going to sleep when I want to know something!!!

And you were doing so well with the bacon reports 🤣

Sorry.....those 23 hours days were getting to me.  But I did handle the serious things like bacon and waffles.

[Rogueperson]

16 hours ago, cantgetin said:

Another cruiser posted some photos of the helicopter....we were asleep.

 

I stole those photos, but won't post them since they weren't my pics.  They were awesome pics.

[Cloud9 Bob]

Any chance of getting a link to the OP so I can see them?

[Lorinemo]

We were on the ship as well.  We were on floor 13 mid ship and had the helicopter hovering right outside our balcony at 6:00 am.  We of course went out on the balcony... hadn't read the message from Virgin telling everyone to stay inside and off decks until AFTER the event. But got video and photos!  The way it seemed to work is they hovered over the ship and dropped a basket and/ personnel on deck 16 (there is a closet on Z side right out side the central elevator that says "helicopter" if you want to look at where they probably were) then they swooped around and came back to outside our room.  Hovered a while, then went up/around - not sure what they were doing that time.  Came back and hovered for a while.  Again they went up and assume they picked the patient up and headed off to the North (?). All in all they hovered on our side of the ship 3 times for a total of 15/20 minutes I'd guess. 

The daughter of the patient posted that they were able to fly to the Azores to join him the next day after we arrived in Funchal. All indications were good for a recovery. Didn't hear an update after the initial one, but hopefully he was well enough to return home. 

 

One of the staff showed my husband the video shot from the bridge.  he said it was really cool.

 

Edited May 11 by Lorinemo

[Cloud9 Bob]

Thanks so much for the background story and the photos. I had always wondered how they did this on VV ships because of the way they are designed. The helicopter looks military. So glad it went well for everyone involved…especially the patient.

[chengkp75]

Virtually no helicopter evacuation from a ship at sea will be done by anything other than the military (or coast guard) using military type equipment.

 

The reason the helicopter came back alongside the ship, is that the flight crew want to avoid a catastrophe if a problem happens to the helicopter, so it doesn't go down on the ship.  Also, the thermals over the ship from the ship's funnels makes it hard to maintain a good hover, requiring lots of concentration, so minimizing the time hovering over the ship is logical.

 

The only time those helipads on the bow of cruise ships are used is when the seas are absolutely glass calm.  Since the ship needs to keep moving to head into seas to minimize motion, the helicopter needs to maintain a "moving hover" (hovering stationary over a moving spot), with the high front of the ship heading right into the cockpit window.  Most evacuations happen on the top deck, roughly midships. 

[cantgetin]

The helicopter was Portuguese Coast Guard.