40th Airlift Wing hosts local media flight

by Adam Luther
440th Airlift Wing Public Affairs

3/21/2014 - POPE FIELD, N.C. -- The 440th Airlift Wing invited media from the Fayetteville and Raleigh, N.C. areas to take part in an aeromedical evacuation training flight here, Mar. 10.

Media members were able to witness firsthand the type of training aeromedical personnel undergo in order to stay proficient and current in their career field.  Aeromedical training is already challenging; but this time adding to the difficulty, the aeromeds had members of the media watching their every move, interviewing and taking video and photos of them.

The four-hour low altitude flight consisted of different training scenarios including an in-flight fire, a crew member suffering from a seizure, and performing life saving chest compressions on a patient dummy who received injuries from an improvised explosive device.

The flight path traced the coastline, taking the group over the Outer Banks providing views of four of North Carolina's lighthouses.  Although bumpy at times, at 600 feet above the ground the visions from the C-130H were spectacular.

On the battlefield, the role of an aeromedical evacuation crew is to get wounded servicemembers out of the hostile area to a hospital in a safe location.  The aeromedical evacuation field boasts a 98 percent survival rate once the wounded reach them.