Episode 16 Helicopter Heroes

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

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

That's why a helicopter like this can be one of the most beautiful sights.

It was for me when I was a copper.

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 ten minutes from hospital

thanks to this 150mph lifesaver.

Every day brings a new life-or-death emergency

for its team of flying paramedics.

Two helicopters, four paramedics, five million patients!

Today on Helicopter Heroes:

a climber falls and breaks her leg half-way up a deadly rock face.

They've been up there quite a while.

And the doctor scared of heights.

The driver of a vintage sports car is trapped behind the wheel.

Pilot Tim has to turn fireman.

A cyclist comes off on a very steep hill.

The brakes may have given out. I don't know.

And the emergency services are called to a crash

on one of the highest roads in the Dales.

Yorkshire is famous for its rock faces.

That's why some of the UK's best climbers were born here.

But it's a dangerous hobby.

If you fall, there's no such thing as a soft landing.

This is the ultimate test for an adrenaline junkie.

Hundreds of climbers flock to Malham Cove every weekend

to take on one of the UK's most formidable cliff faces.

It's a prehistoric waterfall,

260 foot of vertical rock

polished smooth by water over millions of years.

With the thrills come huge risks.

Climbers have died here.

'Hello, Heli-med 99 Alpha. Divert to Malham Cove.'

'Heli-med 99 Alpha, roger. At your discretion to the north-west.'

We're going to Malham Cove,

which is quite a busy tourist visiting area.

Apparently somebody's fallen 20 feet. A female.

It could be quite nasty injuries

when we get there if they've had a bad fall.

Today, a climber has fallen over 20 feet

and hit the sheer cliff hard.

She's lucky to have survived the fall.

Now she's perched on a narrow ledge, 100 feet up and in severe pain.

Heli-med 99 is heading for the Yorkshire Dales

at 150 miles an hour.

Paramedics Lee Davison and Tony Wilkes are unaware of the complicated rescue that lies ahead.

We don't know what she's done. Looking at multiple injuries.

Head and limb fractures. We'll assess her when we get there.

The crew's problems begin before they've even landed.

Terry, looking at the terrain there, it looks quite steep.

Yeah.

-So you might have to be independent if it arises.

-Yes, mate.

Same thing as we did before.

It'll just be you going out the door if we need to.

The terrain surrounding Malham Cove is rugged.

Pilot Tim is worried they won't be able to land close to the climber.

The solution is paramedic Tony will jump out of the helicopter

while Tim hovers just above the slope.

Has she actually fallen off the wall itself?

I don't know. It said they've fallen 20 feet. It could be there.

INDISTINCT

It looks like we'll have to land there.

To paramedic Tony's relief,

the ground is flat and pilot Tim will be able to land at the foot of the cove.

But it's still not going to be a straightforward landing.

There's quite a bit of rock on the left-hand side.

Yeah, there's some rock there.

-I think I can fit her in.

-I'll just open the door before you land.

-Check the rock.

-Watch the front left corner here, Tim. Right a bit.

-I'm gonna crack my door front left, OK?

-Yeah.

OK. Clear on your right.

Still clear left. Still clear left.

Down on the front lug. Skids on.

-Skids on right.

-She's down, mate.

They're down, at last.

The climber who saw the accident gives them the first bad news.

She hit the ground. The ridge broke her fall.

But as the rope fell to the floor, she swung back into the cliff

and collided heavily with the cliff.

This is gonna be quite tight, looking where she is.

The guy that's come has got a harness on and everything.

They've obviously been up there quite a while.

We'll just have to see when we make an assessment.

Dr Neil McDonald and paramedic Tony will have to climb up the cove themselves.

Neither has any climbing experience.

It's rained heavily and the path is very muddy.

But Tony's about to discover that this will be the easiest part of the rescue.

Just be really careful here. It's slippy.

Tony's patient, Rachel Somerville, is still over 100 yards away.

In order to reach her, Tony and Dr Neil will have to walk across a narrow ledge

with other climbers on one side and a 100-ft drop on the other.

Tony's carrying all his kit in a rucksack weighing over 20 kilos.

He's struggling to keep his balance on the polished limestone.

Tony and Dr Neil know if it's this difficult to get to their patient,

it's going to be even more challenging and dangerous to get her to safety.

Coming up: Rachel has survived her fall

but her rescue could be just as dangerous.

I'll take direction from the guys that are skilled in these rescues.

A major disaster exercise is cut short

as Heli-med 99 is scrambled to a real emergency.

'We have an officer on scene with no vehicle.'

Yorkshire's bikers hit the road again and some are in trouble.

..taking the corner.

This is a pretty safe place to be.

Air bags, crumple zones and seat belts are all designed to save your life.

But that wasn't always the case.

Sometimes, today's emergency services get to see

what their counterparts 40 years ago had to deal with.

You can't get much further away from it all than Wensleydale.

This is the valley that gave the world a famous cheese

as well as some of the UK's remote addresses.

When the Heli-med team get called here,

they know they'll often have to handle whatever comes at them alone.

'Ultimately, you've got a patient to deal with.

'You can't really say what you're going to do with them until you get eyes on them.'

At other times you just have to try and find the best kit or best people

qualified to complete an extrication and you deal with the casualty.

We'll just go with what we know and get the assistance if we need it.

Today's call-out is a car crash near the picturesque village of Wensley.

The local policeman is already on the scene, plus a fast-response paramedic.

But no sign of the fire brigade.

We're on our way to a road accident just west of Leyburn.

We have reports of three vehicles involved

and one person trapped.

We don't know the extent of the injuries

but we're less than four minutes' flying time away

so we'll find out quickly.

A classic car being towed to a local spray shop

has swung out on a sharp bend

and hit a hatchback head on.

There's a police car, he's obviously shut the road.

-Right below us.

-I see it.

No ambulances?

-OK. Looks like we've got a responder.

-Yep.

Just have a look at the tree line, please.

With so few rescue resources on hand,

it's up to the crew of Heli-med 99, a ground paramedic and a local bobby

to free the victims by themselves.

The driver of the 40-year-old MG sports car is badly hurt.

His kneecap is shattered, his leg is broken,

and with no seatbelt, his chest has been crushed by the steering wheel.

Nick Jones is the local landlord.

He's a classic car nut and this MGC is one of his rarest.

Are your legs hurting you?

It's one of only 2,000 ever built.

Have you no wrecking bar?

If Nick is to be freed from his seat,

it needs to be cut apart.

A friend told Nick's wife what happened. She's in shock.

We've got to cut it. Cut it out. The steering wheel's knackered, mate.

Heli-med 99 pilot Tim Taylor is an army veteran

who's happy to get stuck in.

He's about to become an amateur fire-fighter,

borrowing a pair of cutters to free Nick from the wreckage.

Nick's in too much pain to care about Tim's hatchet job on his steering wheel.

His 40-year-old chrome wheel is a collector's item

worth more than £200.

'We've all got different roles to play.

'Firemen are experts at this, but when there's no-one around,'

we've got to improvise and get the job done as best we can.

The door is wedged closed so we need the firemen and their cutting equipment to get it off

but he's more comfortable now.

The fire brigade should be here in a couple of minutes so we'll have him out soon.

The passenger in the hatchback has been injured.

The driver escaped almost unhurt.

This lady's got chest injuries, she's got pain.

The paramedic feels she needs some analgesia

so we'll give her some strong analgesia.

This is gonna be flushed.

It's cold water. It cleans the cannula out, OK?

Give me this arm, mate. There's gonna be a sharp scratch.

40 years of safety developments have made a difference in this crash.

The hatchback's crumple zones reduced the impact for its occupants.

Which is more than can be said for Nick's 1960s steel.

Although it looks like it can stand more of an impact,

it doesn't deal with the impact as well as a modern car.

You haven't got the airbags, no crumple zones,

just a steel chassis hitting another car.

It's more of a concern what injuries he's sustained.

So that pain's increasing? What do you think it is now? Six?

I'm gonna give you a whiff of this.

Heli-med 99's crew have done all they can to care for Nick.

But they daren't move him until the fire brigade arrive

to cut the roof off his precious car.

And in Wensleydale's winding lanes,

even blue lights can't guarantee a speedy arrival.

Coming up: It's his pride and joy, but they'll have to cut it up

if he's to reach hospital.

He's taken a significant impact to his chest.

The team's nerves are tested as they tackle a sheer rock face

to reach their patient.

It's quite slippy.

And the victim of a moorland bike accident has an embarrassing confession.

I've got pyjama bottoms on!

Gonna tell us what colour they are?

The flying paramedics have to be ready for anything

and that includes a national disaster on their doorstep.

Last year, over 300,000 people took a trip back in time

on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway.

Steam locomotives like this weigh over 100 tonnes.

Imagine what would happen if one crashed.

That's what Yorkshire's emergency services are practising today.

Heli-med 98 is playing a part in the disaster exercise.

But the flying paramedics can't stay.

They've just received another emergency call

and this time it's for real.

On a steep hill ten miles away,

a cyclist has been thrown off her bike at high speed.

The inclines of the dales and moors

can give cyclists injuries every bit as serious as motorcyclists.

Got this bit of land coming out here.

We have an officer on scene, but no vehicle.

The rider has been lucky that Heli-med 98 was close by. They need to hurry.

She's losing a lot of blood and could have a punctured lung.

-I've got flashing lights.

-That'll be them.

Orange flashing light.

Fly across to the left-hand side here at 90 degrees.

Pilot Tim has landed as close to the scene as possible.

But it still leaves paramedic Sammy with an awkward climb.

Looks like we're going over.

I'm covering the least bit of ground

but it doesn't look a very strong wall.

Kirsty Smith has managed to stagger to a nearby bench.

But she's in severe pain.

Some of her injuries are obvious.

She has deep cuts on her face and a badly broken shoulder.

But Sammy is more worried about the injuries she can't see.

You've got a little cut above your eye.

Then I'll have another listen to her chest.

Kirsty and partner James are keen cyclists

and were on a 50-mile bike ride from York to the seaside village of Robin Hood's Bay.

I was taking it really easy on the slope

and I'm not sure but her brakes might have given out. I don't know.

Sammy knows the severity of injuries sustained by cyclists

often depends on how fast they were travelling.

-Did she have her helmet on.

-Yes.

-Do you have it?

Is there any markings on it at all?

-I don't know. Do you want me to get it?

-That would be great. Thank you.

If Kirsty's helmet is badly damaged,

she could have a serious head injury.

To avoid a dry stone wall and a barbed wire fence,

pilot Tim is going to relocate the helicopter

onto a patch of ground barely big enough for the chopper.

To make it harder, there's a blustery 30mph wind.

Finally, Sammy finds out which part of Kirsty's body took most of the impact.

And it's not good news.

That's what saved her. It was quite a significant impact, that.

What we'll do, Sammy, is put her in the ambulance, take her up the road.

Could you bring your vehicle back here?

To protect Kirsty from the huge down-draught when the helicopter lands,

the team move her into the back of the land ambulance.

The medical team have done their job. Now it's time for pilot Tim to do his.

This might look easy, but this is a tiny landing site.

Tim is fighting against the gusty winds.

With a little help from Pat, Tim is down safely.

But after ten minutes in the turbulent air above,

Tim is the one that now needs medical attention.

I feel as sick as a carrot!

There were 30-knot winds coming at me. I was blown about all over the gaff!

I had to crash on the only suitable patch that's available for landing.

So we've moved her out of the way and repositioned the air ambulance

so we can load her up.

AGONISED CALLS

-What's hurting you?

-Oh, my chest!

-Sam, was she knocked unconscious?

-No, she doesn't think so.

As Kirsty found out, the routes across the North York moors are treacherous.

Without Heli-med 98, she'd have faced a long and bumpy road journey.

Instead, she'll be in a top trauma centre in only ten minutes.

She's not very well. She's got problems with fractured ribs.

The chest wall damage is making it difficult for her to breathe.

It's her helmet that saved her, to be honest.

Kirsty was planning to end her day on the sea front at Robin Hood's Bay,

not the Accident and Emergency Department at James Cook Hospital in Middlesbrough.

Three months later and back home in York,

one of the UK's biggest cycling cities,

Kirsty is only just back on her bike.

I've missed cycling and all I've wanted to do is get my bike back and get back out

and start to rebuild some of the strength in my arm

and also to rebuild some confidence.

It's really good and I'm sure it'll just get better.

As we were coming down, I started to realise that the hill was getting steep

and as I went to put my hands on the brakes,

I realised I couldn't stop my bike.

It was a 33% gradient, so it was very steep.

The bike started getting faster and faster

until in the end I came right off the road and fell.

It's been a long and very painful journey back to fitness.

Kirsty spent over a week in hospital

and her shoulder and elbow were so badly damaged they're now held together by metal plates.

'I broke my collar bone and completely smashed my elbow.

'I'd cut all my head and then my eye, so I had some stitches there.'

It's really, really important to make sure that you dress correctly,

especially to wear a helmet

because I think on this occasion I can almost definitely say it saved my life.

Kirsty's determination to get back on her bike has helped her to make such a good recovery.

But she knows that without Heli-med 98's help, her injuries could have been even worse.

In that situation, you don't know what's wrong with you. It's frightening.

They're so calm, and even having a bit of a laugh and a joke

and it makes you feel like maybe there's not so much wrong with you.

This year, we were supposed to be doing the John O'Groats to Land's End, but we couldn't.

Next year we'll do it and raise some money for the Yorkshire Air Ambulance.

So that I can pay back my air fare!

Coming up! The fire brigade arrive at last at the scene of a vintage car crash.

Make us a door, mate!

On one of England's highest routes,

Heli-med 99 is called to a biker who needs urgent treatment.

Everybody's frightened of something.

But the last people we'd expect to be scared of heights

are members of a helicopter crew!

In the Yorkshire Dales, a popular beauty spot is the scene of a major rescue.

A climber's been injured after falling over 20 feet

and smashing into the rock face at Malham Cove.

She's stuck over 100 feet up

and perched on a narrow ledge.

Heli-med 99 paramedic Tony Wilkes and Dr Neil McDonald

negotiated the treacherous path

and finally reached climber Rachel Somerville.

But they must now try and treat her just feet from the huge drop.

Hiya. Are you Rachel?

We'll sort you out from here and give you some pain relief.

Get that immobilised and work out the easiest way of getting you out of here.

Rachel's had a lucky escape.

She landed in the one part of the cove in walking distance of the helicopter,

and a safety rope has stopped her falling over 150 feet to the bottom of the cliff face.

A sharp stab coming up. Bear with it.

If you had to score your pain, Rachel,

nought being no pain whatsoever,

ten being the worst you'd imagine, what would you say your pain was?

About five.

Tony and Lee know it's far too dangerous to carry Rachel off the ledge themselves.

They're going to need some help.

We'll have to call for some mountain rescue

or fell rescue who we work with quite closely.

It might be a winch job,

it might be a detail that we have to get mountain rescue to help us get the patient from that position.

Rachel has broken her leg and is in severe pain.

Her injuries aren't Tony's biggest concern.

He wants to know how they're going to get her down.

It is quite slippy, so if you want to send one up to see what's happening.

That might be safest.

'One man from mountain rescue is making his way up towards you.'

Finally, a cave rescue team arrive.

-Fracture?

-Fractured tib and fib.

And there's good news.

A simple stretcher.

They think they'll be able to move Rachel off the ledge and down the cove

in a specialist stretcher.

Even with all their expertise, this is still going to be a difficult and dangerous rescue.

Thanks for that.

With Rachel's pain under control,

Tony needs to put her broken leg into a splint.

It's now Lee's turn to face the risky scramble across the cove.

Tony, long leg splint.

Rachel, I'm gonna put this splint on your leg.

Moving a broken limb is incredibly painful.

But Rachel's leg must be immobilised before they can move her.

This is hard work with Rachel in such a precarious position.

We've obviously got safety issues. We're right on the edge of Malham Cove.

Which is difficult. We need to make sure that things are secure.

We'll take direction from these guys who are skilled in these rescues.

More and more cave rescue volunteers arrive to help.

The ledge is so narrow, they decide to attach a safety rope to the stretcher

in case anyone falls.

The atmosphere is becoming increasingly tense.

Where are you gonna put the stretcher? I want you here if we can.

-Are we going down and across the water?

-Yeah.

Fine.

We're gonna attempt to keep this limb elevated while we get her off here.

We'll traverse along this rock to a stretcher and carry her off.

She's been tied on to keep her safe.

An hour after Rachel fell, the team are finally ready to move her.

When we start to move you, if you feel any pain or discomfort, you say so. OK?

Are we ready?

It may be only a few feet to the stretcher,

but the ledge is deceptively steep

and they're moving Rachel gradually closer to the edge and the 100-foot drop.

You're doing really good, Rachel. Really good.

They've done it. Rachel's made it safely to the stretcher.

It's a big relief for Tony.

But his colleague has a surprise piece of information

which he's kept quiet from his fellow rescuers.

Interesting challenge. I'm not very good with heights!

A strange location. A lot of dangers.

But the job's going quite well so far.

Rachel may be a little more comfortable, but she can't relax yet.

The helicopter is parked at the bottom of the cove

and Rachel faces the most dangerous part of the rescue.

A frightening journey down a deep and treacherous path to safety.

Coming up: We're back on the rock face as the battle to save Rachel reaches a critical stage.

Any pain other than prior to us moving?

And the team are scrambled from a hospital helipad

to a bike rider thrown off on a remote road.

Now, let's catch up on a difficult rescue operation

in the heart of North Yorkshire's most famous dale.

On a country lane near the beautiful village of Wensley,

there's been an unusual accident.

A classic car being towed to a re-spray shop

has slid out on a sharp bend and hit a hatchback head on.

Local landlord Nick Jones is trapped in his 1960s MGC,

one of only 2,000 ever built.

His kneecap is shattered, his leg is broken.

He injured his chest on the unforgiving vintage steering wheel.

Pilot Tim removed that with bolt cutters.

There's gonna be a sharp scratch.

Paramedics Darren and Simon know Nick could have more serious injuries.

But there's a problem.

Wensleydale is famous for its cheese and its winding lanes.

And there's still no sign of the fire brigade.

At last, the local fire crew arrive, led by one of Nick's regulars.

Just make us a door, mate.

Their cutting gear will make short work of the MG's aging bodywork.

SIMON: They're taking the door off.

The guy in the MG is still trapped.

The fire brigade are taking apart the vehicle as we speak.

He's taken a significant impact to his chest.

Although the air is still going in OK, he's not got a safety belt

and he's not got a crumple zone or an air bag or whatever.

So the whole force has been transmitted through his chest.

We think he's hit the windscreen as well, but we're not sure.

His seat is not actually bolted in. He's got something wedged behind it so he doesn't slide back.

So this seat's not bolted to the floor?

The detached seat should help the crew get their patient out.

But the roof is still in the way.

Nick's precious classic car is about to become a convertible.

-I think if this seat lifts, we can physically take the seat completely out that way.

-No probs.

Steady, steady, steady.

Watch his legs.

This might look strange,

but being able to keep Nick's neck and spine in the same position

could prevent any further injuries.

As daft as this sounds, if we lift him up again

and just withdraw the seat away.

NICK SHOUTS IN PAIN

All right, mate. All right.

Got him, Si?

Off to the helicopter. One, two, three, lift.

TIM: When you're first on scene, there's lots of confusion,

nobody seems to know what's happening.

We take it for granted a lot of times, turning up and everything's done for us.

In this instance, the bloke was trapped by his steering wheel

and by the dashboard.

We got bolt crops off the police and freed him.

It's in remote places like this the chopper's speed comes into its own.

It can reach hospital in minutes,

a journey that could take an hour or so by road.

It's good news for Nick.

He's stable at the moment. We're giving him morphine for pain.

We've got some support set up

which we set up just to maintain his radial pulses.

We're not certain whether or not he's got lower leg fractures.

He's obviously got significant pain.

He can breathe all right. We'll get him down to Harrogate

and hand him over to the staff there.

Hello, how you doing? That's good.

The paramedics know Nick's been lucky.

It's no coincidence the UK's road death rate was much higher in the 1960s

and with far fewer cars on the road.

The MG was notorious for cornering badly

and Nick's proved its handling hasn't improved with age.

The car obviously had no air bag. It had no safety belt, either.

They weren't designed with crumple zones in mind.

So it's just basically a steel box on wheels.

Doctors at Harrogate hospital soon patch Nick up.

Within a week, the landlord of The Three Horseshoes is back in his garden

in the leafy surroundings of Wensley.

But this time, he's in a wheelchair.

Nick's not much use behind the bar now. He can't see over it.

His staff are having to work overtime to help him out.

As I understand it, I think this kneecap is in five pieces.

So I believe they've drilled and wired it all together.

And this ankle was broken in three places

and was bent over between the clutch and the brake pedal.

I know I'm lucky to be here

because from what I can see of the car from the inside is grim enough.

And my wife came running down the hill. She said, "I saw the car

"and just went numb and cold

"because there was no way anyone would have survived that.

"And then a minute later I was sat in the passenger footwell talking to you."

Few people want to see the wreckage of their car after an accident.

But Nick's MG was an 18th birthday gift for his daughter

and he's asked for it to be returned.

This is the first time Nick has seen his prized MG since the crash.

Well, it's a mess, isn't it?

It's a big mess.

I think I've finished it anyway, haven't I?

It's a finished job, that one.

It will be back on the road in one form or another.

Nick has plans to thank the medics

who came to his rescue.

'I want to thank everybody that was there.

'I'm here by the grace of God, aren't I? I'm lucky to be here.

'We're going to put on some live music and a big barbecue

'where everybody will be welcome.

'And we'll be going round with a big bucket

'raising money for the air ambulance.'

Coming up: On a dangerous ledge,

the life of a climber is in the hands of the rescue team.

Bikers love an empty twisting road

and the remote dales of Yorkshire attract riders from 100 miles away.

But some moorland routes aren't as idyllic as they seem.

High in the hills, emergency services are speeding towards the scene of a motorcycle accident.

And it sounds serious.

In Middlesbrough, 30 miles away,

Heli-med 98's crew have just flown another patient into A&E.

And they've also got the call.

Probably about ten minutes' flying time.

We should be on that pretty quick.

OK, mate. Thanks a lot.

It's spring and the weather has persuaded hundreds of bikers to dust off the leathers

and venture out to Yorkshire's remotest routes.

These unlucky bikers have crashed on one of the highest roads in the country.

Heli-med 98 is their only hope of a rapid rescue.

There are two casualties at this scene.

Either two separate motorcyclists or a pillion passenger.

All clear this side.

The biker is being treated in the back of a land ambulance.

But his pillion, Samantha Monroe, hasn't moved since the accident.

He came over the brow there and locked the bike up taking the corner.

Basically, he lost control of the bike.

It's flipped her onto her back.

As it came over the thing, it went a bit light.

There's all the gravel on that side.

It skipped.

Sam seems to be in good spirits.

Her chances of escaping serious injury

were helped by the fact she's got the right protective gear

including one piece of clothing few bikers would admit to wearing.

'I've got pyjama bottoms on underneath!'

Tell us what colour later!

Few bikers will ride past the scene of an accident.

They know just how dangerous their passion can be.

-Which is the wrist that's hurting?

-I don't think they're broken.

I just fell funny.

The hard tarmac is supporting Sam's back.

But paramedics Pete and Pat have to move her onto a spinal board

and that's going to be very painful.

We're moving you onto the board, Sam.

One, two, three, roll.

PAINED CRIES

You're on the board now, my love.

In the middle of nowhere.

Probably 30 miles from the nearest hospital by air.

A lot longer by road.

So 15 or 20 minutes maybe to get to hospital.

One, two, three, lift.

It looks like Sam's been lucky.

Bikers often have serious internal injuries.

But Sam doesn't want any pain relief.

X-rays and scans at hospital quickly rule out any serious injuries.

She's in A&E, still in a considerable amount of pain.

She didn't want her jacket cut. You find that a lot if they've got the correct gear on.

They'll not let you near them with the scissors.

They'd rather suffer the pain than have their jacket cut!

Fortunately, A&E got her jacket off without any damage!

I'm happy to say Sam was soon out on the bike

and enjoying the Yorkshire countryside.

Every day, the flying paramedics put their lives on the line to save others.

But the job rarely takes as much courage as a rescue on one of Yorkshire's trickiest rock faces.

In the Yorkshire Dales, Heli-med 99 has landed at Malham Cove

where an injured climber is stuck over 100 feet up

on a narrow ledge.

This is gonna be tight, where she is. The guy that's come to her has a harness on.

I'll give her morphine.

Rachel Somerville has broken her leg and has been on a cold wet ledge for over an hour.

Heli-med 99 paramedic Tony Wilkes

and Dr Neil MacDonald have eased the pain with morphine.

The cave rescue team have managed to get Rachel safely onto a stretcher.

It's a strange location, a lot of dangers.

The job's going quite well so far.

Rachel's still a long way from hospital

and the team now faces the most dangerous part of the rescue.

Rachel, any pain other than what you've had prior to us moving?

They must carry Rachel down a wet and slippery path

and across a stream to the waiting helicopter.

The expert team carrying Rachel

know how risky rescues like this can be.

The path is steep and an afternoon's rainfall

has left the smooth limestone treacherous underfoot.

Rachel's partner, Richard Kirby, saw her fall and quickly raised the alarm.

'As she fell, she smacked into the rock face.'

It's unfortunate cos you fall off a lot with this sort of climbing

and this doesn't usually happen.

So it's a bit unfortunate for her, really.

He's now following close behind. But there's a problem.

Whoa!

Whoa!

-I'll have to take it off.

-We're taking it off.

The safety rope has run out barely half-way down the slope.

The team will have to continue down the path

meaning that if anything goes wrong,

there's nothing to prevent the stretcher and Rachel from falling.

They're making slow progress

but after a few readjustments,

the team are ready to attempt the final hurdle in this risky rescue,

carrying Rachel through a rocky stream that flows under the cove.

-Is your pain all right?

-Yes.

One, two, three, lift.

It's taken a long time and the helicopter is a welcome sight for Rachel and her rescuers.

'No two jobs are the same.

'When you're half-way up the ledge, it's impressive.'

It's what we're trained for and we're ready.

Cave and mountain rescue came and helped

so it went to plan.

We've just transferred the casualty onto our board

so that we can manoeuvre her better.

She's obviously been out for a while.

We'll fly her directly to Harrogate hospital, six or seven minutes away.

She'll get her leg seen to.

Rachel's broken leg looks simple enough to treat.

But the real extent of her injuries won't be known

until she's safe in hospital. There she'll be scanned and x-rayed.

This has been a nerve-racking rescue

that's taken its toll on the whole crew.

It could have been potentially quite a difficult job.

We've all worked together well as a team.

We've had rescuers working with us as well.

Clinically, we've stabilised Rachel.

Hopefully she's not in too much pain now. She's quite comfortable.

In a relatively short time we've got her in the helicopter and into hospital.

Just half an hour ago, Rachel was stranded half-way up a sheer rock face,

one of the Yorkshire Dales' most spectacular sights.

Now, thanks to her rescuers,

she's in the hands of hospital doctors.

But the team have no hard feelings about people who live on the edge.

Everybody's got their own sports. I've done climbing before.

It is good and exhilarating when it works out well.

Obviously she's just lost her footing

and ended up coming to grief on the ledge there.

But it's all ended happily, I think.

Two days later, Rachel is having to get used to a more relaxed lifestyle.

Her injuries are more serious than any of her rescuers had realised.

She faces a long time away from the rock face as her leg heals.

Both the tibia and fibia are completely broken

at the point close to the ankle.

They're clean breaks.

So there's nothing left, really, at the end of it.

And the bone at the bottom has shattered quite a lot as well.

There's apparently quite a lot of fragments of bone in there

which all need to be put back together.

Rachel's memories of her fall are fresh.

In rock climbing, one mistake can have devastating consequences.

I knew instantly that my leg was broken.

It made this huge snapping sound.

There was a lot of pain.

I looked down at my foot and could see it was sort of dangling a bit.

I just knew that it wasn't right

and we had to call an ambulance and get it sorted.

For Rachel, the shock of breaking her leg was quickly replaced by a panic.

And a fear that rescuers may not be able to reach her.

They didn't look all that safe on the catwalk when they were coming across.

I was really worried. I didn't think they'd be capable of getting me off the ledge at all.

Rachel's got a real head for heights.

But even she struggled to cope with being carried down from the rock face.

Her life in the hands of her rescuers.

'When you're on a stretcher, you pretty much can't move anything.

'They don't want you to move anything.

'So you feel helpless.

'It would be really hard to get to that spot

'in a normal ambulance.

'So for them to be able to fly in

'and fly me out really quickly is perfect.

'We got there at least an hour or two quicker than in a normal ambulance.'

One thing is almost certain.

It's unlikely Heli-med 99 has visited Malham Cove for the last time.

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

The team face a terrible choice.

Freeing a trapped driver could mean amputating his leg.

Can we rig a tourniquet up?

An unusual hazard leads to a serious accident on a Pennine road.

Sheep? Don't dodge 'em! Run 'em over!

What happens when you forget to wear your seatbelt.

The police say he definitely did not have his seat belt on.

And paramedic Pat agrees to an unexpected request from an injured farmer.

I'm not used to getting false teeth out!

Subtitles by Moira Diamond Red Bee Media - 2008