Episode 1 Helicopter Heroes

When you're with someone who's critically ill or seriously injured,

every minute you wait for medical aid to arrive feels like an hour.

Which is why a helicopter like this can be one of the most beautiful sights in the world.

This is the Yorkshire Air Ambulance and their business is saving lives.

From the Dales to the big cities of Leeds and Sheffield, patients in the UK's biggest county

are never more than 10 minutes from a hospital, thanks to this 150-mile-an-hour lifesaver.

And every day brings a new life or death emergency for its team of flying paramedics.

I'm Rav Wilding and this is Helicopter Heroes.

Today, a two-year-old girl fights for life after an accident on the family farm...

-Extremely serious at the moment.

-She's gone quiet!

..but the chopper's broken down.

Paramedic Sammy struggles to keep her cool as reckless bikers threaten the safety of her patient.

That's ridiculous.

There's a Royal visitor as the crew take delivery of a new helicopter.

-Do you bring them in through the side door?

-We do.

And there's a risky landing on one of the UK's busiest motorways.

Yorkshire's flying paramedics see some of the worst things that happen to the county's five million people.

Most of Helimed 99's crew are parents

and they find it doubly difficult to deal with accidents when the victims are children.

At Yorkshire Air Ambulance's control room, a frantic mother is on the line.

Helimed 99 can reach 150 miles an hour.

If pilot Steve Cobb could fly faster, he'd do it this morning.

A three-year-old been knocked down by a horse,

-initially not breathing but she is breathing now.

-Oh, dear.

We just have to deal with what we find.

We don't know exactly what has happened until we get there.

There is no point in getting worked up about anything until we know what we are being faced with.

No one likes dealing with seriously ill children.

It does touch a nerve with most of us,

so, obviously try and do the best way we can.

But there's a problem.

One that means Helimed 99 might never reach its patient.

Just to let you know we've just had chip light up in the gear box.

The gear box that drives the chopper's rota could be breaking up.

They look calm, but this emergency is serious and the danger is real.

They are doing it by the book.

Temperature and pressure fine.

"Land as soon as practicable.

"If indication is abnormal, land as soon as possible."

Planned landing. We are almost there anyway.

It may be that we can't transport, but we will cross that bridge when we get to it.

They've made it. The chopper is on final approach to the field where the accident happened.

The ground ambulance crew have reached little Amelia Tinkler.

She has a suspected fractured skull.

Her mum, Lynne, is terrified.

The two-year-old was hurt in a freak accident when her pet pony kicked a steel gate that swung and hit her.

I've got a two-year-old toddler knocked by a horse

and flung about 50 yards across the field and the gate.

Chest sounds are clear. We've got a head injury, but I think the blood is in her mouth.

We had a warning light come on on our way, so we're just ringing engineering.

Could you get some suction so at least we can clear her airway?

AMELIA WAILS

Amelia is seriously ill. She's bleeding heavily and they need to keep her airway clear.

She's gone quiet.

She's just tired out, sweetheart.

She's still breathing.

Extremely serious at the moment. I think she's been hit by her pony

as the pony's jumped over the fence.

Initially she was unconscious, but she has come round.

The fact she is crying out in pain, although distressing for Mum and Dad, at least she's conscious.

We don't want her to go quiet and as a result of that stop breathing.

Steve's trying to confirm whether the warning light on his cockpit panel is genuine or a false alarm.

Simon Cavanagh's trying to keep Amelia's spirits up.

All right, Amelia?

Just going to get that blood out of your mouth. There you go.

There we go. Good girl. That's much better.

Amelia is an hour from specialist care by road - time she may not have.

Try and stay still for me.

This is her parents' worst nightmare.

But pilot Steve could face a heart-breaking decision -

balancing the life of a little girl against the safety of his crew.

They can't take off unless the fault is fixed.

Coming up on Helicopter Heroes, Steve turns mechanic in an attempt to put his chopper back in the air.

The safety of the aircraft and the crew has got to be considered as well.

Helimed 99 gets a sister ship as the air ambulance service expands.

It's a really nice machine to fly.

And paramedic Lee opens the door 100ft up to help with a life-saving landing on an urban motorway.

Off-road biking is a booming sport and the dangers are obvious.

Helimed 99 are often called to those who've taken on the rugged Yorkshire terrain and come off second best.

The motorcycle trials area, Flappits Quarry at Denholme.

We get plenty of jobs there.

This is two separate incidents with two motorcyclists injured.

Flappits Quarry in West Yorkshire is a magnet for offroad bikers like Paolo Gallone.

He was catapulted off his bike and landed heavily. He hasn't moved since.

He needs help fast and the land ambulance can't get near him.

As the crew circles the scene, there appears to be only one biker injured.

But this isn't going to be a straightforward landing as hundreds of bikers career around the quarry.

Do we want to wait until the police have secured that area?

I don't think it's the police, I think it's the supervisor.

Pilot Steve has landed here many times, but he knows many of the bikers will ride towards the scene

and in the past, bikers have even ridden underneath the helicopter as it's landing.

We sometimes have problems with the landing areas

when we have no control over the people or equipment down there.

Sometimes we arrive and people are just running about everywhere and we can't see exactly what is going on.

There is also this one down here.

To make matters worse, the police haven't arrived to secure the area.

If pilot Steve thinks it's unsafe to land, they will have to leave a patient who needs their help.

We need to make sure that everyone in the aircraft is looking outside

and trying to make sure that the area is secure,

but it's not always easy when you can't see.

In the final part of the approach, the landing area is genuinely blocked out. It gets quite tricky.

Paolo is in luck, the bikers stay far enough away so Steve can land.

But the danger is not over.

As paramedics Pat and Sammy start to treat the patient, Steve and the helicopter are surrounded by bikers.

I fell off my motorbike and it fell on top of me.

He has taken a knock to his head and to his lower leg.

We are cutting the boot off to have a look and see what is going on.

-Can you feel that there when I am pressing?

-Yeah.

All right, Paolo.

This is a dangerous situation. Bikes are racing past where Pat and Sammy are trying to treat Paolo.

Guys, turn it off.

Do they always make this much noise?

A lot of people aren't watching where they're going.

They're too busy watching what is going on here.

There's the potential for one of them to come off and cause another accident.

It can get a bit noisy and a little bit wild at times.

Right, have you ever had gas and air?

-No.

-This is the same stuff that women deliver babies on.

It might make your voice sound funny but we're not worried about that if you're not.

Before they can do anything, they must stabilise Paolo's leg

and ensure they don't become casualties themselves.

We'd just like protecting please and a little bit less noise around the patient cos that's ridiculous.

Driving up to him like that.

Can Pat and Sammy get their patient into the helicopter before anyone else gets hurt?

Coming up on Helicopter Heroes - even the police have their hands full taming the offroad bikers.

It's not nice and it's not safe.

Pilot Steve is under pressure.

Two-year-old Amelia's life could depend on his DIY skills.

Just a bit of trouble getting this plug back on at the moment.

And airlifting an injured driver will mean a difficult landing.

It's not going to be able to land where we are now.

It costs £3,500 a day to keep one of these in the air.

The people of Yorkshire have a reputation of perhaps being a little careful with their money,

but no-one minds putting their hand in their pocket when the chopper you're buying could save your life.

There is 6,000 square miles of Yorkshire.

It's the biggest county in England and 10% of the UK's population live there.

Helimed 99, the Yorkshire Air Ambulance, is busy.

We have the biggest motorway network in the UK.

And a lot of very, rural remote places.

If we get, for example, a horse rider falling and seriously injured

and a road traffic accident at the same time, which do we go to, which is the most serious incident?

Helimed 99 took 300 people to hospital last year and they could have flown more.

The answer would be to have two aircraft so we're able to respond

to two emergencies at the same time. That's one thing we are aiming for -

to purchase a second aircraft to enable us to respond when we are faced with two emergencies.

A large package has arrived for the Yorkshire Air Ambulance.

It's been shipped over from Jakarta, via Tilbury Docks and then by lorry to an airbase in Gloucestershire.

Wrapped in vast amounts of bubble wrap is the answer to Mick's prayers - a second air ambulance.

Mick and his new pilot Tim Taylor have come down to pick up the new helicopter,

call sign Helimed 98.

It's good. It's looking the part.

I can't wait to take it out of the hangar and fly it.

I have been looking forward to it for ages. It's like buying a new car.

Lots of brand-new equipment, new moving map, weather radar,

wire cutters, new medical fix, it's a nice machine to fly.

Back in Sheffield, paramedics Pat and Lee have formed a welcoming committee.

It's been a long time coming

but we've finally got there. This is its arrival today.

Obviously we've been waiting all day and it's fair to say it's the first time in Yorkshire for it.

Years in the planning and finally it's here.

The paramedics are keen to give their new helicopter the once over.

It feels fantastic. What you see here is what the people of Yorkshire have bought.

All their hard work, all the charity fundraising,

all the input from everyone around Yorkshire, this is the machine that belongs to them now.

It's a great day. Everyone is really happy to be looking round it.

Hopefully it will do a lot of missions and save a lot of lives.

The next day, Helimed 98 is off on its first mission.

They may have a new state-of-the-art computerised navigation system in the front,

but in the back the navigation system has gone horribly wrong

as Pat struggles to unfold his brand-new map of North Yorkshire.

I hate new maps!

The crew are on their way to the Dales.

This is the first job for the new aircraft. Exciting times.

Obviously, it's a virgin run so we will see how we get on.

The new helicopter makes good time at 150 miles an hour

and it doesn't have to follow the windy B roads down there.

Does that look like them?

Coming down a hill at speed, a cyclist has hit a dry stone wall at the bottom.

There was only ever going to be one winner.

He misjudged the bend. To miss a car, he hit the post of the gate.

Kevin Thompson needs to get to hospital.

An eyewitness says he has been out cold for five minutes. Much too long.

His face is battered and he has shoulder and chest injuries.

Pilot Tim finds out that, in this job, he has more to do than just fly the chopper.

Quite a nice place for him to come cycling. It's a lovely day up out in the Dales.

Because of where we are and the distance to the nearest hospital,

we are going to fly him to Harrogate, about 15 minutes away.

Pat's worried about his patient's head injury.

Before they set off, he wants to check out the evidence.

What's his cycle helmet like? Is it damaged?

This helmet has done its job.

Cracked right through.

If Kevin hadn't been wearing one, things could have been much worse.

Pilot Tim is pleased with the way his first flight is going.

It's doing what it says on the tin.

I just have to put some newspaper on the floor so they don't muddy it up too much.

With his patient safely on board, the helicopter's computers plot a route to take him to hospital.

-How is it?

-Displayed on there.

-Beautiful.

A few minutes later, and they touch down on Harrogate Stray, right next to the hospital,

and their patient is in the hands of the doctors.

Helimed 98's crew are pleased with the way the new helicopter has performed.

It seemed to go really well. A nice, easy fit to work around inside.

So, yeah, it's worked out all right, patient's transferred well

and we have dropped them off at Harrogate Hospital and the doctors are seeing him there.

With Helimed 98's first mission successfully done, Tim and the crew head to their new base at Sheffield.

Ahead is another important day.

It's Royal visit time - the Duke of York.

The former helicopter pilot is dropping in to open the unit.

Lee's technical skills are once again in demand.

Lee, how do you use the vacuum cleaner?

As well as his cleaning duties, Lee has also been brushing up on his Royal protocol.

It is my first time meeting a Royal.

I had to have a quick word with someone to see what to say in reply

if he spoke to me, and obviously it's your Royal Highness and then sir.

It's time for Lee to put his meeting and greeting training to the test.

The Duke of York takes great interest in air ambulance work.

He flew Sea King helicopters during the Falklands war and still regularly flies.

To get a patient in and out, do you bring them in through the side door?

-We do.

-The side door obviously opens.

It's a flying visit but an important one, and Lee says goodbye the only way he knows how.

You can always pop in for a brew.

Now that I know that you're here, I'll do that.

At the end of the day, he will have a cup of tea like anyone else. He knows he can come and see us!

Coming up on Helicopter Heroes...

Helimed 99 is under siege by bikers as the medics try to treat an injured rider.

I don't think they appreciate it would render us inoperable if they just bumped her.

And a woman driver is fighting for her life but the crew have to find a landing site on an urban motorway.

You are looking well over the road now.

Compared with cars, or even motorbikes, helicopters are not the safest way to travel,

which is why Helimed 99's pilots sometimes have make tough decisions in the interest of safety.

Amelia is two years old and critically ill.

Her mum, Lynne, is frantic.

She saw what happened.

She was hit by a metal gate after her pet pony kicked it.

Her skull is fractured and she's bleeding heavily.

She needs to get to neurosurgeons quickly.

But Helimed 99 may not be able to help.

We do have a transition chip light, which means that we will fly to our next place of landing.

I'll have to ring and see what they say. It may be that we can't actually transport.

Amelia must get to hospital fast.

Steve is trying to fix the chopper in a stubble field while paramedics treat Amelia in a paddock.

The blood in her mouth is blocking her airway. Simon needs to use a pump to suck it out.

That's better, isn't it?

Although she is only two, Simon reassures his patient.

He's got a three-year-old himself, this comes naturally.

We're going to put you on a special stretcher.

Teddy's coming.

Mummy's here.

Everybody's here. You're quite safe.

It's time to move Amelia, very gently.

As well as everything else, she may have a spinal injury.

Steve is still trying to fix the chopper's gear box.

The paramedic crew still don't know whether the helicopter can fly Amelia to the treatment she needs.

For the moment, we're going to transfer the little girl on to the ambulance.

-It's a little bit warmer for her.

-Do you want to put the monitor on it?

We should see in a few minutes whether the helicopter can fly.

We will make a decision then.

On three. One, two, three.

Behind the scenes Helimed 99's engineers have been constantly

on the phone to Steve helping him sort out the gear box problem.

Everyone knows Amelia's life depends on it. Back at the helicopter, there is good news.

Cleaned the plug off and then we are going to fly this flight

and have a look when we get to the other end.

Just having a bit of trouble getting the plug back on.

Simon, can you hear me? We will fly her. We will fly her.

The safety of the aircraft and the crew has to be considered as well.

But the engineer says it's fine to go, so we will go with that.

We are going to fly to James Cook which is the nearest hospital that can deal with paediatric neuro.

It's in the best interests of the little girl to take her up there.

It's what everyone wanted to hear.

With Steve still working in the engine bay, Amelia is loaded into the aircraft

for the ten minute flight to the waiting surgical team.

It's been a tense and exhausting time for the paramedics and crew, but most of all for Amelia's mum.

Steve the pilot could have been faced with a terrible decision -

having to say he couldn't fly Amelia.

But today, things worked out. She will be on her way soon.

With the final catches closed on the engine bay, Steve can get ready for take off.

Amelia is being prepared for the short flight to Middlesbrough.

She needs oxygen to help her breathe and her mother is coming too.

Helicopter pilots are always cautious.

They fly complex machines and errors of judgment can cost lives

but Steve has made sure that Helimed 99 is fit to make this vital flight.

In the back, Amelia has stopped crying. Her eyes look blank.

Her mum watches everything.

Paramedic Simon Cavanagh's job is to monitor Amelia during the flight.

He knows children can recover quickly or go downhill fast. Everyone is worried.

Is she still breathing?

Oh, yeah. I will get a lot more animated if something bad happens. Don't worry.

Her pulse is nice and strong and steady. Her breathing is nice and steady as well.

No reason to believe she has any nasty limb fractures or anything like that.

Her lungs are nice and clear, and her breathing as it should be.

The intercom tells everyone they have reached their destination.

Helimed 99 and its precious cargo have made it.

The thing is with children, they tend to get ill very quickly.

One minute they can be fine and talking to you, and the next minute they can stop breathing.

A lot of the paramedics and technicians up and down the country,

we've all got children, it's the type of job that anybody hates.

Paramedic Simon goes with Amelia and her mum into the trauma unit.

Surgeons are waiting to operate.

Amelia is critically ill and the crew are exhausted, physically and emotionally drained.

I've got a son who is three, so when they're hurt it's just awful.

It's the worst sort of job, anything to do with kids.

It's not only because little people hurt,

but also the trauma for relatives.

It's just awful.

It really is awful.

Coming up - will Amelia recover from her terrible head injuries?

And lights, pylons and trees, but they have got to land here.

How far are we from it?

You're only about ten foot off the blades.

At the quarry in West Yorkshire, the paramedics are trying to treat a rider who has come off his bike.

The motorbike fell on top of me.

Despite hundreds of bikes careering across the site, Helimed 99 has managed to land.

Paramedics Pat and Sammy are trying to treat Paolo Gallone

who has broken his leg, but this is a increasingly dangerous situation.

We would like protecting, please, and a bit less noise around the patient.

Cos that's ridiculous, driving up like that.

Quite intimidating with all these bikers and noise

and charging up at you and throwing a bit of dirt at the patient.

Before they can load Paolo onto the helicopter, they must stabilise his broken leg.

That means a painful move into a splint.

Straighten this one out for us, pal.

That's it. Great, Paolo.

Right behind you now. Can you just shuffle over a bit?

Paolo is in a lot of pain.

He has been lying on the hard ground of the quarry for over half an hour.

Don't be fooled by the sunshine - it's a cold day.

Without Helimed 99, Paolo would be facing

a chilly and painful stretcher journey to an ambulance over a mile away.

Instead, he'll be in hospital within minutes.

You all right now it's been been splinted up?

But there's still time for another biker to nearly cause yet another accident.

I can't believe how close he was. Practically underneath the rotor head.

I don't think they appreciate how dangerous and how it would render us inoperable if they just bumped her.

-Clear left.

-Clear rear right. Go straight up high.

Even in the helicopter, the crew are still in danger.

Pilot Steve must lift off quickly to prevent him being blinded by the clouds of dust.

There is still time for another twist in this rescue.

There is going to be a bit of a delay, there's cows blocking them.

The ambulance, on its way to transfer Paolo to Airedale Hospital, is stuck.

With the stray cattle safely back in the field,

Paolo can finally begin the last leg of his journey to hospital.

-Can I stand on this leg?

-Put that one down to the ground.

Lower yourself nice and steady.

Shall we go down a bit so you haven't got to do the splits.

It was a bit of a challenge. It's always a messy, unco-ordinated job.

Invariably we land as close to the patient as we can get.

The road crew always have to walk a certain distance.

I never feel safe around my patient until the police have arrived and secured all the bikers.

Coming up on Helicopter Heroes - down on the farm where little Amelia Tinkler was hurt,

they're waiting for news from intensive care.

When you are driving, statistically the motorway is the safest place to be.

But, when things go wrong, reaching you can be very difficult.

It's usually Helimed 99's life-saving paramedics that get all the attention.

Today, it's the turn of chief pilot Steve Cobb to take centre stage.

On the outskirts of Manchester, a car has careered off the M60 motorway.

The driver has suffered a huge impact and is seriously injured.

Numerous emergency services are already on the scene.

But they're missing one vital piece of equipment - the helicopter.

Manchester control, Helimed 99, we'll be about nine minutes.

This would normally be a job for the North West Air Ambulance, but they're out on another emergency.

Helimed 99 must travel over 40 miles to do the job.

It looks to be

quite a large intersection where several major routes combine.

It's a requirement for safety that both carriageways are closed when we land on the carriageway.

That has been pre-prepped and we can go straight in.

As Helimed 99 approaches the scene, there is a problem.

The incident is not on a dual carriageway, it's on a narrow slip road.

It's an incredibly tight landing site, and there are obstacles everywhere.

You've got wires. Something stood in the middle of that road, the slip road where they all are.

Some stanchion on the left. Light stanchions.

There's a wire there.

Steve has landed in some tight spots before, but this is going to be close.

We've got a light stanchion in my four o'clock, but we're going to be clear of that

and then there's no more on the right-hand side, as far as I can see.

You're well clear on your left.

We're over the wood at this point.

Can I crack the door at all?

It's such a tight landing, Lee opens the door to make sure they don't hit anything.

Steve's under immense pressure.

Trees, pylons and roadside lights are just feet from the helicopter blades.

OK, you're not gonna be able to land where we are now.

It's touch and go.

Steve knows the patient needs them, but this is dangerous.

Yeah, turn here, please, Steve, you're looking well over now.

You'll be coming one foot. OK, you've got four foot from the edge, you're on the road.

He's done it. They're down and everyone can breathe a huge sigh of relief.

Great, well done, mate.

They're safe, but what about the patient?

This is Nazahol Zharny and she's in a bad way.

Fire fighters have freed her from the wreckage but she could have serious spinal injuries.

Lee now takes over. He must get Nazahol onto a helicopter and into hospital as fast as possible.

The blood pressure's running a bit low.

As Lee and Tony hook Nazahol up to their equipment, pilot Steve inspects his makeshift helipad.

Yeah, this one's tight. It's more of a link road between two motorways,

it's only a dual carriageway. It's a ditch as well, bit of a cutting.

You think you're closer than you really are so you're a bit more careful than you need to be.

But Steve can't relax yet, he's got to do exactly the same again, but this time in reverse.

Lift up initially, do a 180.

-OK.

-To the left.

It's clear right. Keep it coming, Steve. Keep it coming.

Yes, still clear, come round. Clear the right at 3 o'clock.

OK, just forward a touch if you can.

Forward. That's good, mate, you're clear of that.

You can go straight now. Closing the door.

Cleared the trees to your left.

Clear now, you're well safe. Got power out to the right.

We're not above them yet.

Thanks to Steve, Nazahol has been given the best chance of making a full recovery

and she'll be receiving hospital treatment in just 10 minutes.

Keep coming, keep coming.

Fortunately, there's a nice big helipad at Manchester's Wythenshawe Hospital.

Keep coming...

Steve might take the plaudits for this particular success story,

but it's also relied on good old-fashioned teamwork.

She's in the best place now to get the best of help.

Quite a difficult landing, quite tight. Obviously we landed on the carriageway -

lamp stanchions on both sides of the road, a lot of trees, a lot of vehicles and emergency vehicles.

Pilot did really well to get us down where he got us.

Everybody's aware that in them situations to keep it safe, we've all got to point out the hazards -

beneath you, above you, to the side of you.

It's quite interesting when the pilots are not far away from the lamp stanchions.

So it gets you thinking, yeah, it's 360 degrees, up and down.

Now let's catch up on the case of Amelia Tinkler,

the little girl whose skull was fractured in three places in a freak accident on the family farm.

Just two years old and clinging onto life.

Amelia's mum Lynne is frantic.

She's still breathing.

The powerful combination of a horse and a swinging metal gate impacting on a very fragile little skull

has left Amelia critically injured.

She needs an emergency operation soon.

By the time Helimed 99 arrived at James Cook Hospital, the surgical team were waiting for Amelia.

They spent three hours in theatre operating on her fractured skull.

You're a special little girl, aren't you?

Stunning!

Very pretty girl.

For two weeks, mum Lynne has not left Amelia's bedside.

She's got three skull fractures, two jaw fractures,

and two plates and screws. Plates are a millimetre thick

and a broken bone just above her elbow.

But she's sitting up a bit better now.

Amazingly, Amelia has bounced back from her injuries.

During her nine-day vigil at the bedside, mum Lynne has had plenty of time to relive what could have been.

Thought she was dead.

It was the scariest thing I've ever seen.

Scary, and you're on your own as well. Nobody there.

That poor woman on the phone...when I rang the ambulance.

She got some grief, didn't she?

Lady on the phone wanted to keep me on the phone.

I was gonna ring somebody, she said, "No, I'd rather you stay on the phone."

Bless you!

And no-one is happier Amelia is feeling better than ambulance dispatcher Kerry Stewart.

I tried to reassure her by saying it's on the way, we can help her.

I'll stay on the phone with you and tell you what to do

and she did calm down and she was listening to me.

So she was able to help her. Just kept reassuring her by saying you're doing a really good job.

Mum Lynne knows how lucky she is that Amelia didn't miss out on her life-saving flight.

Somebody said there was a light on and she might have to go by road if they couldn't get it fixed,

and that they were on the phone to engineers.

I remember that. I was thinking, fix it, fix that BLEEP helicopter!

Get it fixed! Get it mended.

Two weeks later, guess who's home and back on horseback?

Once out of hospital, there was one thing this young horsewoman wanted to do. Get back in the saddle!

Walk on. Good boy.

And today, a special visitor is coming to see her.

Look, there's a man coming who saved your life.

Is this your horse?!

-There we go.

-Oh! What do you say?

The last time paramedic Simon Cavanagh saw Amelia was as he handed her over to a team of surgeons.

Just a few weeks later and this much improvement is better than he could ever have hoped for.

-It's good she's up and about.

-You say thank you to Simon.

-Say thank you.

-Thank you!

Paramedics rarely get to meet the patients they've helped so when you see one so young and so much better,

it makes the job all the more worthwhile.

No after-effects, as you can see!

-She's not wary.

-She's young enough to forget it.

My earliest memories are from about four.

At two, she's not going to remember a thing about this. Thank God.

The speed of Amelia's recovery surprised everyone, most of all Mum.

She's brilliant, she's really well.

Just about back to normal.

Been amazing.

The day Helimed 99 came to call is now little more than a memory and she couldn't wish for more.

Back to your cheeky self, aren't you?

-Definitely.

-Back to your cheeky self.

When Helicopter Heroes comes back...

a car crash leaves the paramedics with a terrible dilemma.

Two patients but there's only room for one in the helicopter.

But who most needs a life-saving flight to hospital?

A lorry's in danger of blowing up,

but Helimed 99 must land to save its driver.

It might blow so we've just got to get the patient loaded and get out.

There's a race against time to save a badly injured biker.

We'll be back to base before dark.

And paramedic Pat turns shepherd as a flock of sheep invade the landing site.