Episode 15 Helicopter Heroes

When you're with someone that's seriously injured, every minute you wait for aid can feel like an hour.

So 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 ten minutes from a hospital, thanks to this 150mph lifesaver.

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

Two helicopters, four paramedics, five million patients.

Today on Helicopter Heroes, the team call in reinforcements

after an injured mountain biker is stranded on a Pennine peak.

A five-year-old boy has lost part of his ear. But the paramedics think they can save it.

A vehicle's left the road and he has head injuries.

0 to 60 in four seconds and worth a fortune. But who's going to buy it now?

And there's a call-out for hospital backroom staff who scramble to help the Helimed team save lives.

In the Pennines there are huge areas that are inaccessible for anyone without a pair of walking boots,

a mountain bike or a helicopter.

It's a beautiful weekend and in the Yorkshire hills, thousands enjoy the weather and the countryside.

But some are more daring. And that's why a 999 call has just come in from one of the Pennines' highest peaks.

It's a mountain biker...

At Air Ambulance HQ, they know sunny weather and weekends means they're going to be busy.

A call has just come in from a remote and inaccessible fellside.

It says chest injury. I'm not sure about the ambulance getting to him.

Stoodley Pike, near Todmorden, is notoriously steep

and the gradient has caught out a young mountain biker.

His helmet has saved his head, but he's landed heavily. He hasn't moved since the accident.

We're going up to Todmorden

for a male that's come off his mountain bike.

The crew of Helimed 99 are skilled map readers. And this particular location is causing concern.

It's really steep, so he could've gone with a fair old bang.

Hopefully, he's been wearing some protection for his head. But that won't protect the rest of his body.

The contour lines are packed tightly together and that means their patient is on a steep hillside.

We can land on a 12 degree slope. Anything more than 12 degrees, I have to fly away from the slope.

So depending on how steep it is, it may issue us with some dramas.

It takes ten minutes to reach the scene. But there's a problem.

The hill is too steep for the helicopter to land. The paramedics know the biker needs medical help.

It means Darren will have to step out of the helicopter

while Tim tries to keep it balanced on one landing skid.

OK, mate, go and help him.

You've got the bag as well, yeah?

-On to the step, chief.

-OK.

Darren's relying on Tim to keep the helicopter stable.

-OK, mate, disconnecting.

-OK.

Right. Thanks a lot.

Darren's safely down and he can quickly make his way towards the biker,

while Helimed 99 flies off to a better landing site at the bottom of the hill.

-Where will we land?

-Did anyone see anywhere flat?

-No.

Adam is a keen mountain biker and was testing his skills on a steep track when the accident happened.

Darren fears a neck injury.

-Have you any pain at all in your neck?

-Try the other side.

-The other side?

-I want to try this side first.

-OK.

The closest Tim can land is at the bottom of the hill.

-I'll have to put a little needle into your hand...

-Oh, no.

-It hurts less than that.

While Darren's treating Adam, a fellow biker shows just how dangerous the path is.

I'll give you that and the pain will go away. And we can make our way down from here.

The guy's hurt his shoulder.

He's possibly hurt his neck, possibly injured his chest as well.

I'm not going to hurt you, mate. Sharp scratch, mate.

Adam needs to be checked over in hospital. But the question is how to get him off the hill.

We've got the mountain rescue team on its way.

But the nearest mountain rescue team are busy rescuing a stranded walker.

This is now a real dilemma for Helimed 99's crew.

Darren thinks it's too dangerous to carry Adam down the slope. But he must get to hospital.

-Right, Adam, this is just good happy juice.

-I know.

-OK.

Darren has a plan. He's spotted a flat piece of ground a few metres from where Adam fell.

He thinks pilot Tim can land Helimed 99. It's a difficult decision.

Landing is the most dangerous part of flying a helicopter, especially on steep gradients.

Tim, where I'm stood, if you come towards me into wind, the wind's at my back now,

it's probably less than 12 degrees.

Until we land, we don't know how the skids are gonna settle.

Tim decides to give it a go and Helimed 99 heads back up the hill for a second time.

That's a path there, isn't it?

-It's a hell of an angle.

-On the path?

-I'm assuming so.

Darren's marshalling Tim to a piece of flat ground only a few feet wide.

Tim has to make sure the helicopter won't sink once the engines are off.

Open your door, mate.

The skids aren't down yet, mate.

This is a big test for pilot Tim.

He's making tiny adjustments to try and manoeuvre the three-ton helicopter into position.

Can Tim land and help Adam get to hospital?

-Coming up...

-Can he walk? I don't want to come down.

Pilot Tim must make a difficult decision.

Dream car to nightmare in a few seconds.

The driver who was lucky to survive this smash that wrote off a rare sports car.

It's an absolute urban jungle.

And I get a pilot's view of one of the UK's most dramatic landing pads.

Every parent looks out for anything that could injure their children, especially when they're only five.

But something unpredictable sometimes leads to an awful injury.

At a riding stables near York, there's been a freak accident.

It's a wet afternoon at Helimed 99's base at Leeds Bradford Airport.

Few pilots would choose to fly on a day like this. But the five-year-old accident victim needs help fast.

There's a young girl, a young child that's five years of age, I think,

that's had a partial part of her ear bitten off by a horse at a riding stable.

Paramedic Lee Davison is a father of five and he knows that when a child is the unfortunate victim,

the job can be very difficult.

It's not easy circumstances to be working in.

The parents and the child are distressed.

The best thing is to get them to somewhere where they can get care as quickly as possible.

And the air ambulance can do that.

They can get to York in ten minutes. But when it comes to navigation,

they're having the same problems as the fast response vehicle.

The stables are surrounded by farms and it's almost impossible to spot the incident.

-Take your pick. Which building is it?

-There are three farms to choose from.

Do you see this building here? The long building? It's at two o'clock.

Side of the road, look.

Horse bites are very rare but can cause serious injuries. The patient is actually a boy called Joe.

Soon the crew spots the ambulance and they quickly head to Joe's aid.

We've had to position quite a distance away because of the horses. We'll just go to where the crew are.

Are you all right?

-This is Joe.

-Great.

-Joe's just been walking past a stable.

He's five. He was stroking a pony and it just took a liking to his ear.

The horse has bitten a piece of Joe's ear clean off and it's been lying on the floor for half an hour.

The paramedics aren't saying it, but this makes it highly unlikely the doctors can re-attach it.

He's just gonna wrap up the bit of skin.

Paramedic Liz wants to get Joe to a plastic surgeon as soon as possible.

But the nearest hospitals don't provide such specialist services.

-Tim, is there plastics at York or not?

-No.

-No. We'll take him to LGI.

There's no plastics at York.

Lee's plan is to fly Joe to one of the UK's leading plastic surgery centres, Leeds General Infirmary.

There, plastic surgeon Rob Winterton can give Joe the best chance of avoiding disfigurement.

We have to think about putting the piece back on

and trying to prevent any secondary infection. So time is of the essence.

We'll get him into theatre and try and put the piece back on.

Helimed 99 is Joe's best hope. But his mum Helen has a dilemma.

-Have you got other family with you?

-It'll take my husband half an hour to get here to pick the girls up.

There's not enough room in the helicopter for the whole family.

She must decide whether to let Joe fly in the helicopter on his own.

The best option is we'll take him. You look after the girls. We're going to Leeds General Infirmary.

There's nothing to be scared of. You'll have a nice little flight in our helicopter.

Do you want to swing your legs on to the floor, Joe? You follow me. And your mum will follow in the car.

Joe's about to become Helimed 99's youngest unaccompanied patient

after more reassurance from Mum.

I'll see you at the hospital, OK?

Your mum will not be long.

The paramedics know that children who suffer a frightening experience

can go into shock, but Joe's bravery is amazing the whole crew.

Yeah, he is brave. I'd be screaming my head off if it was me.

What do you think of that? A right yellow helicopter!

Obviously, it's cosmetically a very prominent part of the head.

In later life, if it's not dealt with properly, it can be a problem,

and that's not what we want. We want to get him to the best care as quickly as possible.

Is that OK, Joe? All right. So when you talk, that mic will pick up what you're saying. All right?

Joe's ready for take-off, but it may be too late. The piece of tissue from Joe's ear is in this glove.

The chances of surgeons being able to re-attach it are slim.

Coming up - can surgeons save Joe's ear?

The race is on to get him to hospital.

I suggest an area over there.

The team call in the RAF to help rescue a patient from a Pennine peak.

And the chopper touches down in the grounds of one of Yorkshire's grandest stately homes.

This is the Cobra, a super car with incredible performance and a price tag to match.

But what happens when you have more horse-power than the road can handle?

He's been very, very lucky.

For classic car enthusiasts, this is a tragic sight. This AC Cobra's spun off the road and rolled over,

smashing into a dry-stone wall.

The sports car is a soft top and doesn't have a roll cage, so the driver could be seriously injured.

It's the A59 - vehicle overturned with a male trapped.

Dispatcher Dave knows the driver needs the helicopter's help.

The accident's happened on a notorious road that he knows well.

It's going to be overturned on the roundabout. A very fast straight.

Patients involved in a car crash often have multiple injuries. Often they have head injuries.

Thankfully we have airbags.

The crew are unaware that the car has none of the safety features that normally prevent serious injuries.

This may make their job much harder.

-I think that looks like it.

-Police on scene.

-Is it upside down?

-Looks like it's upside down.

-It looks like a big smash.

-Yeah, it does.

Helimed 99 is first to arrive. It's taken just five minutes to get to the scene

and to the aid of the car's driver.

A single vehicle has left the road on the near side. This lady is a doctor who's been with him.

-He's got a nasty head injury, apart from that, not too bad.

-OK.

Hello.

-Do you need a hand?

-Not at this time. Have we got the fire service en route just to make that safe?

-Yes.

Hayden's crawled out of the wreckage and he has nasty injuries.

-How are you feeling, sir?

-Um... A bit cross.

But he's more worried about his car. He only bought it a few months ago

and it's been painstakingly maintained. It's also cost £70,000.

-Any heart problems?

-No.

-Nothing like that? Normally fit and well?

The sight is an uncomfortable one for pilot Steve.

He loves tinkering with engines and owns a classic Datsun.

It's not the worst thing to happen, but a classic car's got smashed up.

Except for a few cuts, Hayden's had an astonishing escape.

Well done for getting out of that. We're just going to put this over your head.

His car was completely original with no impact protection or airbags.

And the crew are finding it hard to believe he's avoided serious injury.

Well, he has got a nasty laceration. He's got several deep lacerations to his head.

Everything else is within normal limits.

He's been very lucky that he's managed to land in the optimum place, yeah.

Well, it's a Mark IV Cobra, which is a 1989 AC Cobra.

We've just had an AC national day when they've come from all round the country to Bolton Abbey.

I suppose it was just a wet road. Been an old friend of mine for 40 years.

When I was a copper, many accidents like this had an obvious cause.

But a breath test proved Hayden's not been drinking.

-Lovely.

-Steady. Steady. Slide.

-That's it.

With Harrogate Hospital only a few miles away, and Hayden suffering from only minor injuries,

it's decided he can travel to hospital by road.

-Are you guys happy then taking him by land?

-Yes.

-And just to let you know it's a soft top.

-Yeah.

-It was.

Half an hour ago, Hayden was showing off his beloved car at an AC Cobra Club meeting.

Now he's on his way to hospital in an ambulance and his £70,000 car is heading off to the scrap yard.

I don't know how he ended up upside down and not have a roll cage.

It's a soft top and he removed himself. It's a beautiful car, but it saved his life.

After a check-up, Hayden was given the all-clear.

But he's still counting the cost of a very expensive Sunday afternoon spin.

You can tell your friends you've been in a helicopter.

Coming up...

The team try to take Joe's mind off his accident on the way to hospital.

-Not many people get to do this.

-No.

And there's a call-out for the hospital firefighters who are always on stand-by for disaster.

In the Pennines, the Helimed team have a problem. Their helicopter can get them almost anywhere,

except the steep hillside where their patient is lying.

Up a steep hill in the Pennines, a mountain biker, Adam Moorhouse,

is lying injured after falling off his bike.

Flying paramedic Darren Axe has jumped out of the helicopter

because the slope is too steep for Helimed 99 to land and he's started to treat Adam.

Adam's injuries are not the only thing worrying Darren.

The mountain rescue team are on another job and it's too dangerous to carry Adam to the bottom.

Adam's hopes of a quick transfer to hospital now lie with Helimed 99's pilot, Tim Taylor.

-Open your door.

-With help from Darren and Simon Cavanagh, he must try and land the helicopter

on a flatter piece of ground.

-We're down, but does it look comfortable?

-No. I don't think so.

Can the patient walk? I don't really want to come down.

If he can walk to the aircraft, then I'll keep running.

We'll go back down to the bottom.

But it's just too steep for Tim to land and he's forced to move down the hill for a second time.

That was the best decision, mate.

Yes. It was too dangerous, yeah.

We gave it a try. You've got to do what is reasonable within the bounds of what the aircraft can cope with.

I don't want the helicopter sliding off this hill.

With Adam stuck up the hill and mountain rescue still unavailable, they need to call for more back-up.

Get mountain rescue as well.

And get the RAF out as well. If we don't use them, then so be it.

It's now two helicopters that have to come to Adam's aid.

Mountain rescue are out on another call.

They're extremely busy, so we've called in the RAF.

It's a technical rescue to get this gentleman down from here.

We need the expertise to do that.

RAF Search and Rescue are on their way. And Adam must now prepare himself to be winched off the ground

and up into a hovering helicopter.

His pain is under control, but Darren's worried he may have injured his neck.

He needs Simon's help to move Adam on to a spinal board.

Simon's a keen runner and very fit, but even he struggled with the steep hill.

Oh, lovely!

I wasn't out of breath at all when I came up here.

It's over an hour since Adam fell and they still don't know if his neck is injured.

Put your legs down, Adam.

They're immobilising him to prevent any further damage and to make it easier for the RAF to winch him.

Wait for Richard's call.

-My shoulder...

-Sorry?

Clear the deck, as much debris and rubbish as you can take with you.

I suggest an area over there, well out of the way.

The RAF Sea King rescue helicopters weigh six tons, twice the weight of the air ambulance.

They were designed in the 1970s

and are not as fast as the Helimed team's Explorer helicopter.

But they can do something the air ambulance can't.

There's no need for a helipad when the Sea King's around.

The RAF winchmen are trained paramedics.

The team decided to let the RAF fly Adam to hospital themselves to save time.

Daz will go with his patient to explain to doctors what drugs he's administered.

-I'm Daz.

-Hello.

-This is Adam. He's been coming down this hill, gone over the handlebars, shoulder and neck injury.

-OK.

The RAF have just dropped their winchman. He's a paramedic as well,

so we'll transfer the patient over to this guy.

This is just a location issue.

It's OK. We'll just put your board straight into this and we can go.

-Are you OK?

-Yes.

-Excellent. We'll use our stretcher and helicopter to take you to Huddersfield Hospital.

Daz has trained with the RAF before. He knows what to expect. But this was the last thing Adam had in mind

when he set out for a ride in the hills. Even though he's an adrenaline junkie,

riding the wire under a military chopper isn't to everyone's taste.

Being winched up into its massive downdraught is quite an experience.

The Sea King's taking Darren and Adam direct to hospital in Huddersfield.

But while Darren escorts his patient to A&E, Helimed 99 is off on another job.

The rescue operation is likely to have cost more than £10,000, if anyone was counting.

But will Adam's eventful day leave him with any long-term injuries?

Coming up - after his two-hour ordeal in the hills, Adam gets the doctor's verdict.

And I'm dropping into a city centre as long as the tower blocks and cranes don't get in the way.

But now, five-year-old Joe Morris has lost something very important - part of his ear.

On the outskirts of York, Joe is about to become Helimed 99's youngest unaccompanied patient.

I'll see you at the hospital, OK?

He was visiting a riding stable when a horse bit his ear.

A piece of Joe's ear has been on the ground for half an hour and it's uncertain if it can be re-attached.

But paramedic Lee wants to give Joe the best possible chance of avoiding disfigurement

and he's taking him to Leeds General Infirmary where plastic surgeons are waiting.

-Your ear's not hurting too much, is it? Is it OK?

-Yeah.

-OK. Good man.

You can tell your friends you've been in a helicopter.

-Not many people get to do this, do they?

-No.

As well as getting Joe to specialist care quickly, the helicopter is also acting as a welcome distraction

and taking Joe's mind off his frightening ordeal.

We're starting to get near to Leeds.

Then we're actually going to land on top of the hospital roof.

-So that's something else you'll be able to tell your friends, isn't it?

-Yeah.

-This must be the youngest kid we've flown on their own. Done brilliant.

-Yes, really good. Really good lad.

Despite the bad weather, Helimed 99 safely lands on top of the LGI,

where plastic surgeons will look at Joe and the piece of his ear, which has been detached for an hour.

We're here, mate. Well done. Did you enjoy that?

Yeah? Good man.

Maintained him in the back did Tony and he's been absolutely fine.

And I think he had a smile on his face, considering his injury.

The paramedic that was on the scene had recovered part of the ear that had been bitten off by the horse.

We just put it in some salty water to try and preserve it a little bit,

so they can see if they can save it. But time is of the essence.

And the helicopter can get people to definitive care, to the surgeons who have got the skills to help.

Joe's taken straight to a specialist children's ward and he's assessed by plastic surgeon, Rob Winterton.

I was in theatre and we got the call

to say that someone had come in a helicopter

with a bit of his ear bitten off.

And it's a child. So it's a good chance to re-attach this because he's come quickly.

So the anaesthetist put him to sleep. We cleaned the ear and the bit of ear and stitched it back on.

The piece of ear lay on the stable floor for over half an hour.

Success rates go down dramatically the longer the tissue's left in the open air.

With the operation complete, there's nothing more the surgeons can do for Joe, but wait.

It'd be nice to be confident, but experience tells us that even when everything is perfect,

not everything survives. With Joe, we got him quickly, so everything was on his side. So we were hopeful.

It's three weeks since Joe's accident

and there's great news. Thanks to the expertise of the plastic surgeons, Joe's ear is on the mend.

And after a few more weeks, there won't even be a noticeable scar.

He had the operation on the Sunday night. He had his stitches taken out a week later

and it had attached and it looked OK.

You can see the change daily. It gets better all the time.

There's been lots of interest at school because he's a big hero. They all think it's absolutely fantastic.

And I don't think he's really suffered any damage psychologically at all. He wears it like a trophy.

Not surprisingly, Joe's new favourite game is a helicopter simulator.

If you move the stick, Joe, it'll go faster or slower.

And no wonder he loves the idea of flying fast. It probably saved his ear.

Coming up - paramedic Daz is stranded as Helimed 99 takes off without him.

The air ambulance got another job and abandoned us!

Compared to most people in the NHS, the flying paramedics are lucky.

Excitement and glamour are all part of the job. But without an unusual team of hospital staff in Leeds,

they couldn't get their patients to intensive care.

We'll head slowly over the bumps.

Dave Tate is one of the porters at Leeds General Infirmary. Paul Curoto is the pest control manager.

Pigeons are what he hates. But when the bleeper goes off, they become NHS firefighters,

standing by to fight the fire that would inevitably follow a crash on the rooftop helideck.

We carry a bleeper and that could go off at any second.

Get up to the helideck, a patient's coming in.

This is pretty much a mini airport in its own right.

The boys are very keen, well-trained.

And, yeah, the lads are great at their job.

'The Leeds General Infirmary is right in the heart of the city.

'Space is at a premium. And the sky is the only place to park a helicopter round here.

'This is one of only three helipads in the UK on top of a hospital.

'Today, I'm getting a pilot's eye view of landing in a city centre.'

I don't know how you do it, Steve. It's an absolute urban jungle.

And for you to try and land this thing on that tiny little speck over there, I take my hat off to you!

-We're not down yet.

-Let's hope you will do.

'Captain Steve Cobb does this around 20 times a year.

'We're on final approach to the heart of a city of three-quarters of a million people.'

The main danger, apart from the cranes, is if you lose an engine on the way in.

You have to make sure your approach is perfect. And if you miss the pad, that's not good news.

But we do have these plastic visors to help us when we hit the ground...

'We're carrying a full load of jet fuel. That's why the LGI crash crew are standing by

'with fire-suppressant foam, hoses and rescue gear.

'Am I glad to see them! When I was a soldier, I flew in helicopters all the time,

'but never into a city centre like this. Even now, it could all go wrong.

'But it doesn't. We're down.'

-You got it bang-on.

-Now and then it works. Today's a lucky day.

'Which is just as well for the fire team.

'Every year they practise for real at an airport firefighting school.

'But they never want to do that here as a crash would be devastating.'

A lot of people think we're here for the helicopter, but the staff don't realise we're here for their safety.

If anything happens on the helideck, we have to look after the helicopter, the patients and staff.

Paul Curoto is in charge of the helideck crew.

There's only two like this in the UK, one's down in London, and us.

I can honestly say it's not about the money, it's more a vocation.

We get involved, belt and braces sometimes. We get very poorly people.

And they're about to go into action again. Helimed 98 has been scrambled.

Historic Harewood House is five miles from the airbase. It takes the crew three minutes to take off

and land in front of the stately home.

-It's in the bird garden.

-We'll just have a quick chat with her, OK?

Their patient is 74-year-old Pamela Williams. She was on a day out with her friends when she was taken ill.

The paramedics think she may have had a stroke.

The staff at Harewood House have arranged transport to quickly take paramedic Lee to the patient.

It's quite a popular tourist spot. They've got a bird garden, which is where we've come into now.

We can go straight to Leeds, which is only a few minutes away. They've got a specialist neuro unit there.

-Hello.

-Hello.

-She's feeling a bit woozy.

Pamela's friends describe her symptoms to Lee and it does sound like a stroke.

-She's walked over to here.

-Right.

-And feels... It does look a bit...

-Is it numb on the right side of your mouth or on the left?

-It's the left.

-And is it your left arm that feels a bit numb?

-Yes.

-OK. So we'll get a chair to get you to the ambulance.

And then we'll put you on to an aircraft and fly you into Leeds. There's a specialist unit there.

-It'll only be a short flight, OK?

-Yes.

-OK. You'll be absolutely fine.

We're just going to land on the helipad, on the top of the hospital.

-BLEEPING

-The helideck fire crew have been scrambled.

We'll be there in a few minutes.

With the chopper so close, they need to get a move on if they're going to make it in time.

We've been a bit too quick for them to get up there.

The pressure's on and the helicopter is winning.

That's it. We're down.

Getting stroke patients into hospital quickly to be treated by clot-busting drugs is a priority.

-We can cope.

-Great stuff. Cheers, guys.

-We were still getting dressed on deck as the aircraft came in.

So it were a belt and braces job, but the patient's down in A&E.

It's been a fast turnaround for everyone.

But Helimed 98 and the helideck fire crew have made sure Pamela will get the best treatment possible.

-So do you think having a helipad like this can actually save lives?

-Absolutely.

I've seen a couple of people that would not have survived

if it hadn't been for this deck.

They're on this roof. They're straight into resus by a series of ramps and they're getting seen.

So if you're going about your day-to-day business chasing mice or pigeons around the hospital

-and suddenly you get that call, is it a bit of an adrenaline rush?

-Absolutely. It is a real, real buzz.

If you ask any of the crew, it hits home and that's it. When the bleeper goes off, you get up to the deck

-and you put your fireman's head on.

-And how long do you get to do that then?

Sometimes it's 15, 20 minutes. It has been as little as three minutes.

Let's catch up on the mountain biker whose rescue from the Pennines was complicated, to say the least.

Flying paramedic Darren Axe is at the centre of a dramatic rescue in West Yorkshire.

He's been winched into an RAF Sea King helicopter,

along with mountain biker Adam. Adam needs hospital treatment after falling off his bike.

And within minutes, his journey in a six-ton helicopter is over.

The final leg of their journey is a little less exciting.

As the RAF Search and Rescue team return to base, Darren and Adam are driven to Huddersfield Hospital.

The air ambulance got another job and abandoned us!

He's stable when immobilised. But when he moves, his pain increases.

Adam's extraordinary rescue may have taken his mind off his injuries, but now he's arrived in A&E,

it'll be an anxious few hours before he finds out if he's done any serious damage.

It's three months since the accident and Adam's been unable to enjoy the beautiful Pennine countryside.

But back at the scene of his dramatic rescue,

more mountain bikers are attempting the same treacherous trails.

And today, Adam's going to join them. He's fully recovered and ready to get the adrenaline pumping again.

We usually amble up to the top, take our time, then ride back down again.

I was coming down a fast bit where if you went to the left, it's OK,

but on the right, there's a hump.

And I ended up going the wrong way and went into this hump. And then the bike just stopped where it was

and launched me off and I landed on my head and shoulder.

Adam was lucky. Bikers that come off at these sorts of speeds risk serious head and spinal injuries.

But he got away with just a dislocated shoulder.

There was a bit of a lump on top of my shoulder. And I'd cut my arm up a bit as well.

I thought the blood was from my shoulder. I didn't really want to look at it.

Adam's friend Andy Butterworth saw it happen and knew his friend was in trouble.

Usually if someone's fallen off or there's been an accident,

we can just get up and laugh it off.

So when he wasn't getting up, I realised it was pretty bad.

Rescuing patients from steep hillsides is never straightforward.

But Adam had no idea how dramatic it was going to be.

It was windy. I'd look up and then see the bottom of the helicopter.

I saw the bottom like that. They put you in and another winch sucks you into the side, you're in and away.

It's really great to see it arrive. If that wasn't there, things could've...

Things could have gone much worse.

As soon as we knew the ambulance was coming, they were here very quickly. And a guy jumped out the helicopter.

Then they sorted me out very quickly and looked after me very well.

That's all from Helicopter Heroes. But when we come back...

A climber falls and breaks her leg halfway up a deadly rockface.

-She's been up there a while.

-And the doctor's scared of heights.

The driver of a vintage sports car is trapped behind the wheel. And pilot Tim has to turn fireman.

A cyclist comes off on a very steep hill.

Her brakes may have given out.

And the emergency services are called to a crash on one of the highest roads in the Dales.

Subtitles by Subtext for Red Bee Media Ltd 2008