Episode 2 Helicopter Heroes

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

every minute you wait for medical aid to arrive can feel like an hour,

which is why a helicopter like this can be one of the most beautiful

sights in the world - certainly 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 10 minutes from a hospital, thanks to this 150 mile an hour life-saver.

And 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 car crash leaves the paramedics with a terrible dilemma -

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

Her partner was unconscious with no pulse when they arrived.

An overheating truck is leaking fuel.

It might blow, so we've just go to get the patient loaded and actually get out of the way.

Helimed 99 races the setting sun to get a badly injured biker to hospital.

Let's hope we're back to base before dark.

And paramedic Pat turns shepherd to clear the chopper for take-off.

Year-round, Yorkshire's flying paramedics go to more road accidents than any other incidents.

It's never easy, but some emergencies leave them with some awful decisions to have to make.

It's a weekend in the Pennines and the local roads have claimed yet more victims.

-RTC, I think four vehicles, one trapped.

-On the M62?

No, just over the back of junction 25.

Helimed 98's been scrambled to a multiple shunt - and it sounds like a bad one.

The initial report is a four vehicle RTC, which we've got quite

a number of casualties.

We've also got one person that's trapped.

We're possibly looking at the trapped person when we get there.

On a back road near Huddersfield, a van and car have crashed head on.

It looks quite a dip as well.

Is it on the right off the road, as you look at it, or the left?

-I think there's a fence on the left side.

-Coming down this side.

Paramedics Paul Bradbury and Pete Vallance will be working with an old friend.

Local flying doctor Jez Pinnell often flies with them.

Feet and arm's trapped by the legs.

-Right. Conscious, talking?

-Conscious, talking but...

-Bit bad?

-Mmm.

-Righty-ho.

-A young lass in the back, there...

-Yeah.

And we've got this one here. Facial injury, she's got chest problems and her legs is trapped at the moment.

Twenty minutes ago, Ebony Clements was driving friend Gemma Carver to see her new home.

Now they're trapped in the wreckage of her Fiat hatchback.

Loads and loads of back pain, numbness in her legs.

The woman, the friend with her, she's got major facial injury, she's well trapped.

Her partner was unconscious with no pulse when they arrived.

Just watch your back. He'll come through and give her something.

Have you got a bandage on you?

Ebony's bleeding heavily.

She needs urgent hospital treatment but she'd still trapped behind the wheel,

and Dr Jez is worried.

She's going unconscious

and will need intubating. I don't want have to intubate her at the roadside,

cos potentially we can intubate her in the helicopter,

so let's get her out and have a look at her when she's out.

-She's a bit scared?

-Yes!

-Yeah.

-All right.

OK, relax for us.

In the back of the car, Gemma's case is also causing concern.

-Worryingly, she's got little sensation in her legs.

-We need to have a look at her.

She's potentially got a spinal injury. Can't feel her legs.

So we'll have a look at her, see what we think, make a decision.

All right.

It's time to move both patients.

Only when Gemma's on a special spinal stretcher will they be able

to tell exactly where the feeling in her legs stops.

-It works its way down, can you still feel that?

-And the signs aren't good.

No feeling whatsoever from her?

Not in her feet, either.

If you rub her feet, there's nowt at all.

Dr Jez has a dilemma - two seriously injured patients and only one helicopter.

The young lady in the front has got quite a bad facial injury, but obviously

we were always taught to carry the ones with the worst looking injuries.

Which of the girls is in most need of an airlift? It's a decision

that can mean the difference between life or death.

-Coming up on Helicopter Heroes:

-We're more likely to save this lady.

The team make their decision. One of the girls is prepared for

her airlift. A biker with head injuries desperately needs help, but the chopper can't find him.

Might be that grass there.

And paramedic Pat chases off some local sightseers.

If you're involved in a serious accident, one move can

mean the difference between a good recovery and a long-term disability.

That's why paramedics normally take extreme care with their patients -

but sometimes they have to take a risk to save a life.

We've left the M62.

You can see the female's laid out in the road a distance away.

The accident sounds serious.

Then there's an update from their control room.

Helimed 99, the accident involved five vehicles.

-It's not clear how many patients are there.

-Yeah, Roger. Thanks for that.

ETA just a couple of minutes, over.

Helimed 99, further update, there's a male trapped in a lorry that's on fire, over.

Just got a further update that there's a male trapped in a lorry at this incident. The lorry is on fire.

I don't believe the fire service are on scene, so obviously safety

is of paramount importance until they actually get there, so we'll just assess the situation when we arrive.

It's rush hour, the traffic is backing up from the incident.

I think there is the HGV in the bushes.

-It looks like it's missed a turning.

-It's in the back of the bush.

This is a busy intersection off the M62 trans-Pennine motorway.

OK, you are clear on the left, now, I can see.

Helimed 99 must touch down on an overgrown patch of waste ground next to the carriageway, and paramedic

Tony is the pilot's rear-view mirror.

There you go.

The lorry has left the road and hit a tree.

The gentleman's come off the sliproad and his brakes have failed.

He's coming straight across and run into these trees that are under here. And we think he's got chest injuries.

He's with the ambulance at the moment.

The problem we've got now is because of the damage caused to the vehicle, we're unable to turn the engine off.

The trouble is fuel is leaking from its ruptured fuel tank and the engine is overheating.

20 years I've been in this job, and it's the first time I've come across owt like this.

The situation has forced the first paramedics

on the scene to take desperate measures to save the driver.

We've had to extricate him without any spine protection.

It was a case that it was starting to smoke, so we lifted him.

Everybody else seems stable. We've got two more walking.

There's gridlock around the incident - the patient'll have to go by air.

Did you have a seatbelt on?

40-year-old lorry driver Tony Taylor has a collapsed lung and could have other injuries.

In other circumstances, he would have been immobilised to protect

his spine before being carefully carried from his cab.

We had to take his injuries into consideration,

but we had to get him out in case it caught fire.

Not ideal, but we've got him out.

He's got quite severe chest pains.

No obvious chest injuries.

In view of what's happened, he could have some air escaping from his lungs, which is our main concern.

The truck's engine is still revving and firefighters are standing by, but the driver needs hospital care,

even if that means touching down on the only suitable landing pad -

a lawn only metres from the overheating lorry.

Just gonna reposition the aircraft

into the back field, which is a lot closer than where we are now.

Take the patient down to the hospital.

The fire service can't stop it revving out, so we've got a hazard

that it might blow, so we've just got to get the patient loaded and actually get out of the way.

The ambulance is gonna lift from where it is. This is

a better location to get the patient onto the aircraft. We can approach in here,

hopefully, guide the aircraft on to this bit of grass - fingers crossed.

Paramedic Lee and Helimed 99 are about to take off for what could turn out to be a hazardous landing.

Coming up on Helicopter Heroes: Can pilot Steve get the trucker to safety before the lorry blows?

Just getting ready now to accept the patient on to the aircraft.

Dr Jez decides which of two patients trapped in their car gets a flight to hospital.

She's got no sensation below her waist.

And up in the hills, Helimed 99 picks up the victim of a hiking accident.

Nice of you to get the helicopter down.

Helimed 99's crew are trained aviators as well as paramedics,

and it's their job to find the patients they treat.

But sometimes navigating at 150 miles an hour is harder than you'd think.

It's late afternoon and Helimed 99 is on its way to a country road in North Yorkshire.

We've got reports that the motorcyclist is unconscious. It is

a notorious area for ourselves, that area in North Yorkshire.

There are motorcycle groups in that area

that do raise quite a lot of money for the air ambulance.

It's paramedic Simon Cavanagh's job to find the biker.

His navigation will only be as good as the information given by a 999 caller.

Might be that crossroad there?

That's... Down there, going to...

Spin it round that way, then.

But there's no sign of the crash at the grid reference given.

Shall I give them a shout to see if they've got a better update for the location?

Yeah.

Control from Helimed 99.

We've covered the road from Birkin to Brotherton and back again.

We can't find any trace of the incident. Do you have any update of the location, please? Over.

The crew know only too well the information given by a 999 caller

can be unreliable. Mistakes are often made

in the stressful aftermath of an accident, and delays can cost lives.

-'Helimed 99, this is control. No further information, over.'

-Control to Helimed 99. Thank you.

They've been searching for ten minutes now and there's no sign of the casualty.

But what's worrying pilot Steve Cobb is that it's now getting late.

By law, Helimed 99 must be on the ground back at base in little more than an hour.

Their colleagues on the ground are having the same trouble.

Back at base, dispatcher Dave Gardner turns detective and calls back the 999 caller.

They're about five miles out.

Location was wrong.

The helicopter's there at the moment, now heading towards the A63, and I've

given them a new grid reference of that roundabout, so they should be able to see him from there.

At last, Paul spots the accident scene.

Got it, Steve. On the nose. Over the wire, straight down there, mate.

You can see the flashing blue light.

Pilot Steve Cobb drops his lifesaving team within yards of their patient.

The biker's in a bad way. He's been thrown down a roadside embankment.

Hello, Matt. We're the air ambulance crew.

What we're gonna do is get this helmet off you, roll you on your back and put a collar on, all right?

Biker Matthew Wood has a head injury, and it could be serious.

He was out for an afternoon spin with some mates when he came off on a sweeping bend.

Matthew was unconscious for 20 minutes.

We're all coming down, all together, Matt went out front.

I was watching myself, what I were doing. Next thing, I saw Matt going into a field.

It was as quick as that, that were it.

I didn't know why it happened, no idea. He just went.

-Does it hurt your chest?

-Yeah.

-It does?

Matthew's lapsing in and out of consciousness.

Apart from a few cuts and bruises, they can't find any obvious injury

but he's clearly taken a major impact to his head.

So we're gonna see if we can still land at LGI, which is obviously the head injury unit for this area.

If we can land there, we'll go there,

take us about seven, eight minutes. He is

quite confusing and combative with us at the moment.

We are trying to calm him down and we'll take him to LGI.

There's no time to waste.

Helimed 99 can't land at Leeds General Infirmary's rooftop

landing pad much after sunset, and the clock is ticking.

The shadows are lengthening and Captain Steve Cobb's involved in

a race against the setting sun to get Matthew to specialist care.

At the moment, it's 10 to 4

so we should be there in about 10 minutes' time, which will be 4 o'clock.

All being well, we'll be away for about 20 past and back to base before dark.

It's Civil Aviation Authority regulation that we have to be on the ground, with this aircraft

at the latest half an hour after sunset.

He seems OK, he seems to be quite stable. Still a bit drowsy.

He's very confused, so he can't pinpoint any other injuries he might have.

His pulse is OK. Quite steady. So I don't think

he's bleeding internally anywhere.

We're gonna have to X-ray his scalp and face.

You can't tell specifically what's wrong with him,

so that's why we're taking the precaution

of strapping him down and immobilising him completely.

Matthew will have no memory of his flight to hospital, but pilot Steve won't forget it.

As well as the setting sun, the booming Leeds skyline presents one more hazard for Helimed 99's pilot.

Pick our way through all the cranes.

Tower cranes litter his final approach.

Two great cranes.

Your side, quite close, I think.

Hey!

That is close!

It's a tricky landing, but one that has given Matthew the best chance

of recovery from what will turn out to be a significant brain injury.

The good news for him is that he's recovering well,

and the good news for Helimed 99 is that Steve makes it back to base with a few minutes to spare.

Speed is what makes the air ambulance special,

but they like to keep a little bit in reserve.

Coming up: A trucker needs an urgent flight to hospital but his lorry could be about to blow.

I just got to get the patient loaded and actually get out of the way.

And an injured walker's been hurt in the hills.

It was either that way or a helicopter.

Back in West Yorkshire, Dr Jez Pinnell and the team are trying to free the victims of

a serious road accident, and they've got an awful dilemma to deal with.

On a back road near Huddersfield, two friends are lying badly injured after a head-on smash.

Ebony Clements was driving Gemma Carver to show off her new home.

Now Gemma has a serious spinal injury and Ebony has a wound from her forehead to the end of her nose.

Only one of the girls can fly in Helimed 98, and the choice is down to Dr Jez Pinnell.

In my way, I'd take this lady. I'm bit worried about her having

skin collapse, filling up with blood when she's laying on her back.

We're taking...

The girl in front, she's got quite a lot of...

it's really bad, her facial injuries.

But Jez is not too bothered about it...

You know, it's not life threatening.

The lady in the back, she's got no sensation below her waist,

so we're suspecting quite a severe spinal injury, so... And it's LGI.

But the crew of Helimed 98 face a serious hurdle.

They had to land behind a steel security fence.

The two paramedics managed to squeeze through a gap left by local

vandals, but it's too small for Gemma and the stretcher, and that's where the fire brigade come in.

We've landed the helicopter in the field. Is there any chance you guys can just take this...

A fence post like this, top half's sort of come away.

Any chance you could take this bottom part off so we can get back through, lads, please?

At last, Gemma's on her way to specialist care.

She's going to be flown direct to Leeds General Infirmary while friend

Ebony goes by road to a plastic surgery unit.

And the firemen have done their job just in time.

The fire brigade have now gone down with their cutting equipment

and they've made us quite a large hole to bring the patient through.

-It's ideal.

-But it's the extent of Gemma's spinal injury that's worrying paramedics Pete and Paul.

You can remember everything that's happened today?

It's just that pain you've got in your lower back, and you've got that numb sensation in your legs,

from your waist down, yeah?

Can you wiggle your toes for me, Gemma? All right, thank you.

They're not ready to share the news with their patient yet, but Gemma's

already showing symptoms of paralysis below her waist.

The noise of the engines means Gemma's unable to hear Pete's assessment of her condition.

She's complaining of severe lower back pain, and she's got a loss of sensation and movement

below her waist, so obviously that's quite worrying.

It needs to be checked out fully to find out why she's got that.

The car was very badly damaged, hopefully it's just that she's been thrown forward. It appears to be

an isolated back injury.

It's only a ten-minute flight to the trauma centre where Gemma

will find out the extent of the damage to her spine.

For someone with her injuries, this is the best way to travel - it's smooth and fast.

But it's going to be a tense few days for Gemma and her family.

Ebony, too, will have to wait to see how her face will heal.

Coming up: Will Gemma ever walk again? And can plastic surgery

save Ebony's face from permanent disfigurement?

What I've got

is nothing compared to what she's gonna be going through.

And Helimed 99 drops into a village cricket pitch with a walker whose country stroll ended in agony.

When the air ambulance touches down, the pilot has to look out for

the safety of his crew and their patient.

But sometimes saving lives means taking a carefully calculated risk.

Helimed 99's been called out to a rush-hour crash in West Yorkshire.

A lorry has hit a tree and is in danger of catching fire.

Fuel is leaking from a burst tank and firefighters can't stop its overheating engine.

Paramedics had to drag the driver to safety.

We had to take his injuries into consideration, but basically

we had to get him out just in case it caught on fire. Not ideal, but we've got him out.

The trucker has a punctured lung and needs to be in hospital, but the only way to get

him there is to land Helimed 99 within metres of the truck.

It's paramedic Tony's job to marshal the chopper into a very tight spot.

Quite a few hazards we need to look out for, especially the trees and the light extensions.

We'd also better take into account the wind.

Ideally, he wants to land into wind.

So hopefully this will be a decent place for him. Soon find out.

For pilot Steve Cobb, it's been a challenge - but that's nothing compared with take off.

It's not too bad. It's nice and easy to get in with two people on board,

but going out with five on board will be tighter.

It will be heavy. And apparently the patient's quite large as well.

Just the other side of the tree line, firefighters still haven't

managed to stop the truck's engine, and fuel is continuing to leak.

Helimed 99's crew don't want to hang around.

Just getting ready now to accept

the patient on to the aircraft, and then we'll be away very shortly.

Trucker Tony Taylor's in agony from a punctured lung.

He's now strapped into a rigid stretcher that protects his neck and spine.

Tony, can I just confirm he's got reduced air into the right side?

'Affirmative.'

Got reduced air entry on his right side of his chest.

But no-one knows what damage - if any - the rapid rescue from his overheating lorry could have caused.

It will take a thorough checkup at Pinderfields Hospital to rule out more serious injuries.

You all right? Hopefully the pain will be easier, soon. We've given a lot of pain killer.

Arm across your tummy.

Arm across your tummy. Just down your side, then.

-That's great.

-How's your breathing feeling?

-Doing absolutely fine.

-Painful?

Painful.

Ambulance officer Graham Butterworth could have

saved Tony's like by rapidly extricating him from his cab.

Now he too must battle his way through the rush-hour traffic to find out his patient's condition.

He didn't particularly want to move because of the pain in his chest.

He were a genuinely big lad, so there were obviously weight issues and the very unceremonious way

we got him out of the cab. It's just a balancing act, and we were lucky this time it worked.

I still don't think it will prove fatal, but...

I'm sure he'll be fine.

It took just five minutes to get Tony to specialist care at Pinderfields Hospital.

X-rays revealed that the impact had not only collapsed his lung but he had broken several ribs, but he

was going to get better thanks to the paramedics' swift thinking.

When your livelihood is driving lorries, an accident like this can end your career.

Getting back behind the wheel of a ten tonne truck after a smash has nearly taken your life is hard.

Paramedic Graham used to fly in Helimed 99, but a back injury grounded him.

Today, he's come to a lorry stop near Castleford to meet a trucker who owes him a lot.

-Now, then, mate. How you doing?

-marvellous.

You all right? Lucky man.

Shall we get a cuppa? Yes.

Tony remembers very little of the accident, and piecing it

together with Graham's help is helping him get over it.

I still come to the same junction, and the first thing I do before I even indicate is make sure

-my brakes...

-Brakes work, yeah.

For Graham, it's an opportunity to explain why he had to drag him out of his wagon so quickly.

When I sort of got to the side of your wagon, where you were, all I could see

was smoke and sparks out the front of engine.

I thought, "This is gonna go."

Basically, the dilemma was, "Do we drag him out and risk injuring

"him further, or do we try and, you know, stabilise him and risk the engine catching fire?"

So, it's not really a dilemma. We had to do what we did.

We basically just dragged him out.

I don't think, without him here, I wouldn't be here to tell the tale.

He got me out so quick, and away from...

Because he thought the vehicle was gonna go up in flames. So it was quite amazing.

Graham's quick thinking got Tony out of his overheating truck

and on his way to the medical care he needed fast.

And it's no wonder Tony is very grateful - he had an important appointment to keep.

Just a few weeks after he left hospital, he got married.

Obviously, the care that you have given me, as far as I was concerned, my wife...

You saved my life, and I thank you for that.

Coming up on Helicopter Heroes: We catch up with car crash victims

Gemma and Ebony as they recover from their terrible accident.

The type of person I am, I can't stay angry with anybody.

Yorkshire's flying paramedics get a bird's-eye view of some of England's most stunning countryside.

The dales and moors are where the speed of the helicopter comes into its own.

It's a sunny day in the Peak District and paramedic Lee Davison

is stretching his legs with some friends after a week in the air.

He's one of millions of ramblers keen on tramping the hills of the Pennines.

It's a good social type of event.

It gets you out in the fresh air, keeps you fit and it's an all-round nice day.

Get great views and be able to look out and, you know, enjoy the view.

It's great.

But some of the walkers Lee and his colleagues come across are not enjoying their days out.

Hiking provides dozens of patients every year for the Yorkshire Air Ambulance.

On the edge of the rugged Derbyshire Peak Park, the unforgiving local terrain has claimed another victim.

In the days before mobile phones, walker Ann Jackson could have lain for hours before help arrived.

Not any more. Paramedic Darren Axe doesn't believe in pulling punches when it comes to pain.

Ann, I'm going to be brutally honest with you.

We've got to put this in a splint, straighten it, and it's gonna hurt.

This is meant to be a safe pastime?!

When they came, they said, "We can't get her out from here,"

because they couldn't find it, for a start off.

Then I came back down the track and I started looking, I thought, "There's no way

"they can get her back down there, because it's quite narrow and tight and steep and rubbly underneath,"

you know, so it was either that way, or helicopter.

Ann, try and relax, Ann.

Relax.

Keep breathing. Keep breathing. That's it.

Just pull back on the knee for me.

Just lift up to it, if you can. It's on bad ground.

-I'm sorry!

-All right, darling?

-That's it. Let's just take that.

-That's it.

-All right.

-That's it.

-Relax.

Just rest it down, Ann.

It's nice and straight.

But at least Ann's broken ankle is now straight again.

Nice, easy pace. So we're not gonna be tripping.

Since I've had a few accidents, as well, we always take at least one mobile phone with us, you know?

She's just changed hers, so I took mine, actually.

But, you know, you can't always get a signal, that's the problem.

She's had a previous fall.

We didn't call the ambulance then but we

were told that we should have done, so this time we did, straightaway.

Ann is well equipped and she's in good physical shape - unlike some of

the hikers Helimed 99's match-fit crew is sometimes sent to help.

It's no good playing with him, his knees are shot!

Simply being unfit for the route you've chosen can make you a patient for an air ambulance.

And if you don't know exactly where you are, help may never come.

If you are gonna go off, do a route plan and know where

you're going from and to, cos we can always quickly search that route.

People can get into areas where it's difficult for us to see them.

Their clothing might blend in with the area that they're walking, they might be in a wooded area.

But they feel that we're able to see them

easy cos we are trying to spot them from the air, but it's difficult.

So it's best if they highlight where they are.

That might be some form of reflective jacket in their rucksack, that they could just pull out

and be waving to attract our attention, make it a lot easier.

Today, Helimed 99 has been scrambled to rescue an injured rambler.

We're heading towards a place called Bishop Wilton.

We're going for somebody who's got a fractured ankle.

It's not life threatening, it's that they're in the middle of nowhere.

The land crew have asked for help. They need help because they're

on a steep embankment and hopefully we'll be able to hoverlift them over to the land ambulance.

Pilot Steve and paramedic Pat

have to rely on their own eyesight to avoid other aircraft - and visibility is bad.

But air traffic control are about to do them a big favour.

Radar's picked up something on their flightpath.

'11 o'clock there, it might be spurious, it might be something.

'It appears to be southbound, slow moving.'

Over there.

-Visual. It's a glider for confirmation.

-'Thank you for that!'

-No, that's not spurious.

-Red and white? Good spot.

It was a near miss with a towplane and glider.

And Helimed 99's next objective won't be easy to see either.

They're either on the Minster Way or part of the Northwold Walk.

We know it's a group of walkers.

The Yorkshire Wolds is a big place - 400 square miles of rolling hills and thousands of footpaths.

This is going to be a nightmare, isn't it?

They've been looking for five minutes now and there's no sign of their patient.

This is where the fun starts then.

It's more likely to be down...

Is this Deepdale, this?

Yeah, that's Deepdale down there.

'Helimed 99, I've just spoken to the driver, he says you were overhead.

'From where you are now, you need to go north and you should be able to see him, over.'

-The land ambulance there, Steve at 3 o'clock. In the bushes.

-Ah, yes.

At last they've found their patient.

Dorothy Hood was out walking on the Wolds Way long distance footpath when she fell and twisted her ankle.

-She's in serious pain.

-The lady's fallen and she heard a crack as she had gone over.

So we're suspecting she has fractured her ankle.

It's a serious injury but life threatening.

Dorothy and her husband watched Helimed 99 fly over them twice

as the crew searched for their patient.

But there's no hard feelings.

Not unexpected, in this situation.

It's nice to be able to get the helicopter down.

Right, now I'm going to put some straps around you and then we'll carry you down to the aircraft.

VIP treatment!

We're going to lift and move across to the other side of the village.

There's a sports field with goalposts on.

We're going to meet the land ambulance there and transfer the patient onto the land ambulance.

The locals are certainly interested in Dorothy's case.

Probably not got a chance to get travel sick.

How do you feel about flying today?

-Are you looking forward to it?

-No!

Oh, dear.

Paramedic Pat Greakin's a big city ambulanceman, but today he's got to

become a shepherd if Helimed 99 is ever to get off the ground.

They're coming back!

Rarrr!

Dorothy has got a nasty broken ankle.

But Helimed 99 is there to save lives and the UK's strict flying laws don't allow them to land

at city-centre hospitals with minor injuries.

So Dorothy is going to go by road.

There's a new attraction at the village cricket pitch.

Helimed 99 has just saved the local land ambulance crew a tricky

mile-long hike carrying Dorothy to the nearest road.

You're welcome, Dorothy. Nice to have met you.

Dorothy and her friends had got it all right.

But many don't and walkers can't count on a rapid rescue, especially if the weather turns nasty.

You need to get a good rucksack. You need to get some supplies in there.

You need a hot drink, food,

some good protective clothing.

You might set off and it might be a nice fine day, but then it

might turn bad weather and you need some showerproof overcoat.

Keep yourself warm and keep some safety stuff in there as well.

If you do take medication, get that in the the bag.

And it can all go wrong on the most gentle stroll.

We are just going down to Brighouse,

just south of Leeds, to a crew request for a patient that's fallen in a wooded area.

Quite a common injury.

They'll request for help in areas that are difficult for them to get people or vehicles to.

I just

slipped here, my foot went under me.

The weather plays a part in a huge number of accidents.

74-year-old Roy Hurst was out for a walk, something he does every day, when he just slipped and fell.

Will you guys give us a hand just to carry him back round? Great stuff.

The leaves that caught Roy out are now a dilemma for Lee and a growing

band of stretcher-bearers who have all come to help.

Roy, you're going on a diet!

Didn't expect him to go in an air ambulance, or an ambulance for that matter.

All the best, Roy! We'll come and see you there.

-Take care.

-See you later.

-Goodbye, love. Thanks very much.

I feel sorry for him. He's come for a walk and this is how it ends up.

Within just a few minutes, Roy is landing at Huddersfield Royal Infirmary.

I think it's fair to say he wasn't quite expecting his daily walk in the woods to end this way.

And that goes for most walkers, even those who head for the hills for an adventure.

Yorkshire's rugged landscape has a habit of coming out on top.

And I'm pleased to say all those patients are back

on their feet, with a new respect for the countryside.

Now, let's catch up on Gemma and Ebony, the two girls badly injured

in that nasty car crash in West Yorkshire.

A Saturday morning trip out has ended in disaster - a head-on smash between a van and a small hatchback.

Ebony Clements was driving. She has severe facial injuries, skull fractures and deep cuts.

In the back of the car, her friend, 24-year-old Gemma Carver.

Both girls are trapped, but are cut out of the wreckage by the fire crew.

Ebony is taken by road to a waiting medical team

to stitch up her facial wound and start reconstructive surgery.

Gemma's condition is less certain.

She is conscious but, worryingly, has no feeling in her legs.

Can you wiggle your toes for me, Gemma?

-I'm wiggling.

-You're doing them all right, thank you.

Helimed 98 flies her to the spinal injuries unit at the Leeds General

Infirmary, for specialists to find out the extent of the damage.

Two months on and Gemma has been transferred from Leeds to her home hospital in Middlesbrough.

The tests on Gemma's back revealed her spinal chord had been damaged.

The loss of movement in her legs is permanent.

This machine is doing what she can't.

A massive impact that lasted just a couple of seconds means it's unlikely that she will walk again.

It's just giving your legs like a good stretch.

You know, with them just being in one position all the time,

in the chair or on the bed, this just gets them moving.

Like how you would be able to move them before.

With a lot of help from medical staff and family, Gemma remains positive and optimistic.

I was quite bad for a couple of weeks, upset and crying and things.

But now I've got past that stage.

You just have to get on with it, don't you?

There's nothing you can do.

Sink or swim. I'm exactly the same person as I was before.

Just in a wheelchair now.

Gemma's friend Ebony, who was driving the car, suffered serious facial injuries.

I don't really want to have to intubate her at the roadside.

The surgery to reconstruct her face started as soon as she got to hospital.

My face was open from the top to the tip of my nose.

And all the skin was over here.

There's still a little bit more to do.

The skill of surgeon Kanak Patel has put Ebony's face back together.

You've obviously hit something here, something quite sharp, because that's cut the skin up.

Outwardly, she's made a remarkable recovery.

You see scars, you see cuts.

For me, I knew that I could get those skin edges together.

What was more worrying to me what was underneath.

But he's aware that there is more at stake here than just Ebony's physical injuries.

I did notice there were other members of your family in the car. That's obviously very traumatic to you.

I dare say, perhaps because you are driving, you might feel responsible.

But that's not...

not necessarily the case. All right?

Gemma has had a long time to think about the accident, the morning of the crash and how it happened.

And she doesn't blame her friend Ebony.

I don't obviously blame her for the accident.

She didn't know what was going to happen.

Even though it's something as serious as this, the type

of person I am, I can't stay angry with anybody.

No matter what they have done.

Even though, because of that accident, I'm like this now.

The skilful hands that have helped reconstruct Ebony still have work to do.

But much of it now is to help with the psychological trauma

of the crash.

This is a very severe injury to go through for anybody.

And she will suffer with flashbacks and feelings of guilt,

all sorts of things she will have to deal with.

More so than her physical injuries, which is going to take a long time.

'I don't think for one minute that the accident was my fault.

'But you've always

'got to take responsibility for the lives that are in your car.'

Trying to work out what I can do to make it better.

They keep telling me the only thing I can do is get better.

'I'd swap with her in a minute.'

Because what I've got is nothing compared to what she's going to be going through.

Gemma continues to work hard.

She want to get a job, her own house, to be independent.

And her doctors say with her positive attitude she will continue to make slow but steady progress.

I've been quite lucky, because there are a lot of people that are a lot worse off than me.

Yeah, it's horrible having to live like this at the moment.

But I'll come round to it.

Because I know there are people that are a lot worse off.

A lot, lot worse than what I am.

When Helicopter Heroes comes back:

There's drama in Yorkshire's racing country as a jockey stops breathing after a serious fall.

I just turned her over, put her head back and gave her mouth to mouth.

On the M62 motorway, a wedding party are caught up in a terrible crash as the groom's cousin fights for life.

-It's OK.

-We're helping you.

Helimed 98 get involved in an uphill struggle to rescue an injured walker.

I'll follow in his footsteps anywhere.

Are we gonna sing "Hi-ho"?

And miner turned paramedic Darren goes back down the pit.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd