Episode 9 Helicopter Heroes

When you're with someone who is 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, it 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 UK's biggest county are never more than ten minutes from a hospital,

thanks to this 150mph lifesaver.

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

Two helicopters, four paramedics, five million patients.

Today there's a major road crash,

and the team are forced to scramble two helicopters.

There's three patients, it's a bad entrapment.

On the grass moors of North Yorkshire there's a race to save a trapped gamekeeper's foot.

If we put some traction on this, it's going to hurt.

Paramedic Daz meets a patient who's apparently a stranger to pain.

And there's a miracle escape for a trucker thrown through his windscreen without a scratch.

It doesn't matter how safe your car is, or how quickly these guys arrive,

how you come out of a car smash is entirely a matter of luck.

On a country road in North Yorkshire there's been a serious accident.

Several people are trapped in the wreckage and this is a long way from the nearest Trauma Unit.

It's a serious RTA at Brompton-on-Swale, near Richmond.

Just next to Catterick races.

The crew of Helimed 99 have been scrambled from their base at Leeds/Bradford airport.

Pilot Steve Cobb, paramedic Darren Axe and flying doctor Andy Pountney are a highly skilled team.

By air it should take them 20 minutes to get to the scene.

But this case is so serious despatcher Dave Gardner is also

sending Helimed 98 from Sheffield, 30 miles further south.

99 is already en route. There are three patients, it's a bad entrapment.

So, I want to get you started on it just in case it really is bad.

This is the first time that both Yorkshire air ambulances have been sent to the same incident.

But two helicopters heading to the same scene isn't without risks.

If we get to the scene first, we can check out the landing site and have communications with them as well

with the hand-held radio and keep them updated on the way in.

From their base in South Yorkshire it's going to

take the crew of Helimed 98 at least half an hour to catch up.

They need to hurry because the latest news from the accident scene isn't good.

One female has come from the back seat and gone into the front,

she's trapped in the foot well.

There's a male trapped in the foot well as well.

Air bag's gone off and it looks like the driver,

they're querying spinal injuries on the scene.

We're en route. We're working out what you're priorities are when you land

because your first priority is getting yourself down safely.

Then you've just got to make an assessment of the scene,

but your first job is going to be doing a recce and overview of the scene,

to try to work out what casualties you've got, what resources you've got at the scene.

Helimed 99 is almost there. Flying doctor Andy Pountney's an experienced Trauma Specialist

but with three patients, he knows he'll have his work cut out.

One, two, three, four casualties. OK.

This guy's been in this car. He's got a pulse rate of 77. He's got abdominal pain and guarding.

Hello,

my name's Andy I'm a doctor.

The fire service have taken one of the cars apart to allow the paramedics to treat the patients.

The police investigation has already started.

I cannot bend my elbow, my left elbow.

I don't want you to move it. Keep it still for me.

The driver of one of the cars is trapped behind the wheel.

He's got multiple fractures and he's in pain but he's hiding it well.

We've got a number of patients.

Andy's giving the first patient a look he may have an abdominal bleed.

The other guy's got multiple fractures.

The lady on the other side of the car's not looking too well,

so we're gonna get at it as quickly as we can.

Mate there's morphine 10, do you want to give that to the guy there?

I'll check the guy on the other side.

As the team struggle to cope on the scene,

Helimed 98 is still speeding north.

Just to the left of Catterick Garrison, I think it is.

Yeah I've got it, mate.

But they're still a long way off.

Back on the ground the driver of the black car has the most serious injuries

and Dr Andy Pountney is worried.

His main complaint is pain in his abdomen, he's also got

quite a lot of pain in his pelvis and he's got quite low blood pressure.

So, we're concerned there may be some inter-abdominal bleeding, but also his pelvis may be broken.

But there is not a lot we can do for bleeding inside the abdomen, out here. He needs to be in hospital.

Two other victims of the crash will go to hospital by road.

But the two drivers need more specialist care.

Hang on one sec, guys. What we are going to do now is move down

and across to the middle in one movement, about six inches.

This is a remote part of North Yorkshire

and the nearest intensive care unit is at least 25 minutes away by road,

and there's only one helicopter.

His pain has gone up now to about a seven, even after the 10 of morphine we have given him.

Dr. Andy and paramedic Daz need reinforcements, quickly.

Coming up, one man's in agony, the other's critically injured and Helimed 98 is badly needed, now.

There's not a lot we can do for any bleeding inside the abdomen, out here, he needs to be in hospital.

Adding insult to injury the victim of a fork lift, truck accident gets a lift.

You need to use sort of anything you can that'll assist you.

Helimed 99 is scrambled to a school bus crash.

For thousands of people, the moors of Yorkshire are a playground

and shooting is still a big hobby up here.

I wouldn't fancy being one of these.

The poor old grouse is too tasty for its own good.

And hundreds of gamekeepers spend all year making sure the moors are a ideal habitat for them,

by burning the heather to make sure there's plenty of green shoots for them to eat.

It's usually the grouse who need help around here,

but today the air ambulance is about to be scrambled because one of the gamekeepers is the casualty.

Do you want to set off on it?

On one of the most exclusive grouse moors in the Yorkshire Dales,

a young keeper has been trapped under his overturned all-terrain vehicle.

He could have serious crush injuries.

The crew know a ground ambulance won't be able to get anywhere near him. This is a job for Helimed 98.

Pilot Steve Cobb and paramedic Sammy Wills are both experienced air crew

but they know that finding one man in such a huge expanse of moorland is going to be very difficult.

They also know their patient's survival could depend on how fast they can find him.

We're trying to guess. Is it a tractor, trailer,

or is it like a fuel tanker?

The person who made the call had to leave the patient just to get a signal to make the emergency call

so it's a little unknown at this time.

You can see physical injuries like broken legs, broken arms and blood

but also you've got to be wary if they've caused internal injuries.

As Helimed 98 races over the Dales, the paramedics' fears are realised.

There are numerous farm vehicles and walkers scattered across the moors

but there's no sign of the gamekeeper.

-That looks like the shooting, we followed the one before.

-Where's he gone to?

All the shooting people there.

They said near the shooting lodge, didn't they?

We're just trying to track down where this patient is

and we're doing a best guess of following something that's moving.

That green thing there. You go up the hill there's a green thing near the wall.

-Big wave. 11 o'clock.

-We've got it.

They would never have got an ambulance up here.

They've finally found their patient, and it doesn't look good.

The gamekeeper's been trapped for more than an hour.

He only managed to attract help by firing his shotgun in the air.

Pilot Steve decides to get closer to the scene.

The patient's colleagues are desperately trying to secure the ATV to stop it crushing him further.

But in the chaos a quad bike almost pushes the ATV over, putting paramedic Pat's life in danger too.

What we don't want to do is to move it and have it come back again, all right.

The man's been trapped for over an hour. Pat needs to act fast.

The blood supply to his trapped legs has been cut off

and if they're not released soon they might need to be amputated.

But this might be the least of his worries.

The ATV is resting precariously and could fall at any moment, and Pat's just spotted another hazard.

It was full of gas canisters, cans of petrol and shotgun cartridges,

they're all flammable, explosive and scattered around the patient.

This is a very hazardous situation and Pat needs to get his patient out before it gets worse.

Just give us a couple of minutes, mate.

-What's happened?

-He's rolled over.

What we're gonna do... we're gonna take the weight but not pull it all the way over.

Take the weight, and drag him out.

One slip and the gamekeeper could be crushed under the full weight of the vehicle.

Normally, they'd call in the fire brigade but they're miles from the nearest road.

Coming up. He survived shotgun cartridges,

gas cylinders and an upturned vehicle,

but have they saved his foot?

Take the weight and drag him out.

Two drivers get twice the treatment in half

the time as the entire air ambulance fleet is scrambled to one crash.

And, why paramedic Sammy thinks she's in more danger here than in the air.

When you're driving effectively you're in control of a missile.

The flying paramedics rarely go anywhere without their rucksacks.

And they dispense painkilling drugs almost every day.

But, sometimes they come across a patient who's a little tougher than the rest.

Helimed 98 is getting the same treatment as a Royal flight this morning.

Its rush hour at Leeds/Bradford airport

but air traffic control makes sure everything gives way to the flying medics.

They are on their way to a farmer's warehouse where a lorry driver's been injured

in an accident involving a fork-lift truck.

My foot is likely to drop off.

You think it is or are you sure it is?

I'm sure it is because when I got up it were right round.

John Dinsdale's amazingly calm for a man whose ankle is so badly broken he thinks it's almost severed.

Don't move,

I want to be able to have a look.

It feels as if it's all broke off in there and it were all over there.

No blood, which is a good thing.

If it's broken but it's closed, that helps us.

We're going to have to put a splint on this.

This boot's got to come off.

Most patients require an armful of painkillers before they can have a boot removed from a broken leg.

John seems virtually immune to pain.

-Got it?

-Don't want it drop!

-We only drop people on Thursdays(!)

-Keep still.

-Eeh, my best socks. They were!

John was picking up a load when he had a nasty accident.

He ran over us with forklift.

If we try and put some traction on this, it's going to hurt.

Yeah go on.

John's leg is broken in five places. It's no ordinary break.

-It's going to be painful, that's what I'm telling you.

-You do what you want.

Paramedics Daz and Pete know most people would be screaming in agony if they tried this without morphine.

-Are you all right?

-We're all right,

it should be other way round we should be asking you if you're all right?

I've just put 14 stone 10 of beef on t'back of that, and you still didn't shout.

Their patient's resistance to pain is amazing paramedics Pete and Daz.

He's got quite a nasty lower leg fracture involving his ankle.

He's obviously in some pain but he's tolerating it quite well.

If that had been me I would have been screaming my head off.

We've got access now in case his pain gets any worse

and transfer him through to LGI where they'll have an X-ray

of that leg to find out exactly what damage he's done in there.

Last year 14 people were killed and nearly 2,000 were injured by fork-lift trucks in the UK.

John's just become another statistic for the transport industry.

But, the vehicle he blames for his broken leg is about to come in very useful for Helimed 98's crew.

What we are going to do now is set this onto the fork-lift.

-Who's best driver?

-Alan he'll be right. Go on.

We're going be all right, don't worry.

Someone else will have to drive John's articulated lorry back to North Yorkshire.

He's going to be a passenger for a while.

Any type of vehicle we can get at, that will assist us in transferring a

patient from the accident back to the aircraft we're going to use that

because the chances of slipping, or falling when you've got a patient,

especially in an industrial environment.

This is quite clean and clear, you need to use sort of anything that you can that will assist you really.

Within five minutes of leaving the scene of his accident

John's touching down at Leeds General Infirmary where surgeons will operate on his shattered leg.

All the best, John.

It's been just another day at work for the crew of Helimed 98

but for their patient, this is the start of a six-month ordeal.

Not only did John go on to contract MRSA after surgery,

he returned home to a caravan he's been camping in while renovating a new home single-handed.

The ankle is just mush,

so they've put a plate in

and hopefully the bone's going to grow back through it.

At the present it's all sort of screwed together solid.

As you can see there's loads of things to do like, and just hobbling about one leg!

And the renovation of John's country cottage is on hold until he can get back up on his ladders.

It's going to be a long wait.

Coming up. A dangerous rescue as the crew fight to save a trapped patient's foot.

Were going to take the weight but not pull it all the way over.

And the paramedics treat a trucker who became a human cannonball.

And lived.

Air ambulances don't have blue lights and two-tones,

but they do get top priority from the air traffic controllers who police the skies.

Sometimes they need it.

There's been a major accident on a road in North Yorkshire.

One man's trapped with multiple fractures and another driver has bad abdominal injuries.

Flying doctor Andy Pountney and paramedic Darren Axe are already at the scene.

And they're fighting to stabilise both men in difficult conditions.

Not a lot we can do for bleeding inside the abdomen, out here,

he needs to be in hospital.

More help is on the way.

The accident is so serious, that the second Yorkshire Air Ambulance helicopter

has been called in to back them up. But Helimed 98 will be some time.

It's set off from its base in Sheffield, half an hour away.

And paramedics Pete Vallence and Lee Davidson can't fly any faster.

We're still en route to North Yorkshire to back up Helimed 99,

and the ground crews. I think this will be a first for Yorkshire Air Ambulance

having two aircraft on the ground at the same time for the same incident.

On the ground, Pete's skills are badly needed.

-How's your pain doing?

-Oh, it's...

-What, sorry?

-Painful.

-OK.

The injured motorist is ready to be air-lifted to hospital.

But for now, Dr Andy is on his own.

Paramedic Darren has to stay with the other driver until the second air ambulance arrives.

Can you squeeze my fingers with that hand?

That's great. Just relax again now, mate.

While Darren stays behind, Andy and the team of firefighters

carry Helimed 99's patient to the helicopter.

And as he's loaded on board, there's a very welcoming sound from above.

Helimed 98 has arrived in the nick of time.

Pountney's on there, so we've obviously got one loaded.

OK to go, mate?

For pilots Steve Cobb and Tim Taylor, this is a big event.

It's the first time that both Yorkshire Air Ambulances have been on the ground at the same incident.

But the medical team have more on their minds.

For the past 20 minutes, paramedic Darren has been looking after trapped driver, Mark James.

Now Pete is finally able to take over.

Mark, this is Pete, my mate who's gonna look after you, like the rest of these lads.

See you later. See you, lads.

It's good timing. Darren's needed at the helicopter.

Dr Andy's patient has more serious injuries, and will be flown to hospital first.

He's got multiple fractures from this collision's nasty impact.

We had couple of doctors on the scene, and, obviously, Andy.

They've loaded one patient up on this already.

We're ready to take off after so it's working out a treat.

But this isn't over yet. James is still trapped with multiple broken bones.

Pete has to get him out of his wrecked car.

Did they say what we're going to do? Put this board underneath and swing your arms round.

This has been a high-speed impact. Both cars are badly damaged.

Seat belts and air bags have kept the drives alive but the team has to move fast.

Helimed 99 was the first helicopter on the scene.

Andy Pountney knows his patient is in a bad way.

He must carefully monitor his condition, heading for hospital at maximum speed.

The main concern is a lot of pain in his upper abdomen so we're worried about bleeding from liver, spleen,

but also he's very tender around the pelvis - you could lose a lot of blood from your abdomen,

and you lose your bloody pressure and go into shock.

What he potentially needs is surgery to stop the bleeding and we can't do that.

It's a life-threatening injury.

Coming up - can surgeons win the battle to save Helimed 99's patient?

Abdominal bleeds are life-threatening.

It's not long before the other driver is freed.

A taxi driver crashes his cab.

We're gonna slide you in.

Now he needs a ride with Helimed 99.

When the air ambulance touches down, the pilot has to look out for the safety of his crew and patients.

But sometimes saving lives means taking a carefully calculated risk.

Helimed 98 is in the Yorkshire Dales helping a gamekeeper

been trapped under his vehicle for over an hour.

Pat is faced with a dilemma.

We're going to take the weight but not pull it all the way over.

Trapped limbs need to be released slowly to prevent cardiac arrest.

But paramedic Pat's patient is surrounded by gas canisters, petrol and shotgun cartridges.

He decides the risk of leaving the man under the vehicle is too great.

The fire brigade are too far away.

The paramedics and the keeper's colleagues are the only ones who can rescue him.

Within seconds it's all over

and he's out.

But Pat and Sammy Wills know he could still be in a serious condition.

Crush injuries can lead to lethal complications.

There is no way the fire brigade could get their kit up on to that moor so it was a matter of getting

him out by the best possible means.

When we got his boot off we found the tops of his toes were starting

to go blue which is an indication that he was getting limited oxygen or blood supply to his toes.

The blood that's below the trapped site starts to get toxic and once you then take off the trap,

the toxic blood then comes into the system and can cause problems with the liver, the kidney and the heart.

As blood starts to flow back into the man's foot it's an anxious wait. Pat monitors his condition.

It seems the keeper's had a MIRACULOUS escape.

He was just trapped by his ankle,

a slow rollover so it was not high energy but he was pinned and his ankle has been quite blue.

Despite being stuck in the middle of the Yorkshire Dales,

being transported at 150mph means the keeper will be in hospital in just ten minutes.

Safely on board he patient finally relives his dramatic accident.

I was driving along to get some water and I was looking in beck.

Obviously I drove off

a bit of an edge and I jumped out to stop it coming over and it just flattened me.

It started to go, you jumped out to stop it coming and your weight's

taken you over and flattened you underneath it.

-You should have just jumped out and run.

-Should have in theory.

The paramedics are used to the aftermath of accidents

but few workers get away with such a serious incident with such minor injuries.

They will definitely look at the injury, X-ray it as well.

The fact that it was pinned and trapped for an hour, we've learnt,

is a significant amount of time.

He had had some circulation but it's been compromised.

His toe nails were blue and he didn't put nail polish on them.

Very, very lucky, you know, his head could have been crushed.

He could have died if it had rolled over on him and been pinned as well.

The keeper was soon back at work on the moors.

Coming up - saving a trapped driver reaches a critical stage.

We're just going to move you, all right?

Flying in this chopper is one of the most glamorous jobs in the service.

All the guys also do their time on the ground.

Every other month in a vehicle with blue lights.

They're highly skilled, drive thousands of miles a year

behind the wheel of some of our largest vehicles.

Whether its buses, taxis, tractors or articulated lorries, our roads

are home to countless professional drivers

and that includes the air ambulance paramedics.

When she's not cruising at a 1,000 feet paramedic Sammy Wills has to

race through the streets of Sheffield to reach her patients.

This guy hasn't seen me.

Sammy is highly trained and must have razor sharp reactions to cope with driving at such high speeds.

This person is still going to turn right. Ah, there you go.

She knows how dangerous our roads are.

When you're driving,

you're in charge of a missile and it's how you keep that missile safe,

because it is a weapon that can seriously hurt and even kill people.

But even when Sammy's on duty with the air ambulance,

it's not always a £3 million helicopter that transports her to the scene of the accident.

It's a foggy morning and the weather has forced Sammy, paramedic Pat Greaken and Dr Wyatt

out of the helicopter and into the air ambulance's rapid response vehicle.

We're going to a car crash at Church Hill.

The reason we're going by car is because it is very foggy.

-Hello, young lady. Anybody else involved?

-No, just the one car.

-Hello, how you doing?

Unlike Pat, Ruth Tetley and Janet Nottingham have been caught out by

the treacherous road conditions and they've hit a barrier hard.

I don't quite know why we went straight into that.

They both seem OK at the moment, Sammy and Ben, the doctor, are just checking them out.

I'm just going to listen to your chest.

They both appear to have avoided serious injury but its freezing cold

and the paramedics know elderly patients can deteriorate quickly.

Ruth and Janet were caught out by ice, a mistake many ordinary motorists will make today.

But an increasing volume of work

involves professional drivers like themselves, people who use the roads for a living.

When I am on the helicopter a lot of the jobs we go to are car crashes.

Often professional drivers, on the roads for hours -

taxi drivers, lorry drivers, and unfortunately it's their livelihood

so they're more likely to be involved in car accidents.

Often when we go for lorry drivers, they have large steering wheels.

They don't all have to legally wear a seat belt either.

When they're breaking, they've got all the load behind them and that causes such massive injuries.

Few people do more miles every year than delivery drivers.

Some clock up 1,000 miles a week.

And on a country road in North Yorkshire a lorry carrying sofas

has collided with a dry stone wall, and Helimed 98 is on the way.

A road traffic accident involving an HGV.

It appears the driver was ejected out of the wagon.

But luck can play a part in every accident,

and as Helimed 98 arrives, they find their patient doesn't need them.

The driver is putting his feet up in a land ambulance

having escaped with a few grazes.

The paramedics can scarcely believe their eyes.

The gentleman who has been ejected appears minor injuries and the road crew are happy to convey him.

Tony is left to look after the driver's mate, who is suffering from whiplash.

He too has had a very lucky escape considering the force of the impact.

His most serious injury is a graze to his knuckles.

I don't know what caused him to swerve into the wall but it's certainly made a big impact.

I'd expect to see mass devastation but he's as happy as Larry.

They are both travelling by road

because at the moment there's no significant injuries that we can see.

Many truck drivers don't wear seat belts and many pay the price

with more serious injuries than they would otherwise have sustained.

Thanks to a soft landing on the grass, this trucker's beaten the odds.

Message from your colleague is don't forget to take the tachograph out. And he'll see you at work tomorrow.

These chaps are exceedingly lucky I've seen is a little graze that I wouldn't even put a plaster on.

Both truckers were taken to hospital as precaution but tests confirmed that their injuries were minor.

Nine times out of ten if you attend an incident where somebody's been

ejected through a windscreen you'd expect some major trauma,

so how he got away with minor injuries, I can't believe how lucky he's been.

Its serious enough when drivers crash with valuable goods in the back but back in Sheffield,

Sammy knows only too well that when that cargo

is a large number of passengers, there's even more pressure.

For the driver it's often more stressful purely because they've got the responsibility of the passengers.

I know how it feels driving a patient in the back of my ambulance.

I have to be aware of them and especially brand-new babies.

The most precious cargo on board and you just have to be extra safe.

Passengers on vehicles like buses don't always sit quietly and let the driver concentrate on driving

and that can have disastrous consequences.

When we've been involved in incidents that are bus drivers, minibuses, double decker buses,

not only have we got the driver who's at the front of the impact, but multiple casualties to deal with.

At air ambulance headquarters this morning the adrenalin's pumping.

Hanging out of the bus window, covered in blood.

An accident involving a school bus is about as serious as it gets.

On a coast road near Bridlington,

a bus full of children has collided with a van.

The crew of Helimed 99 know emergency services

from all over East Yorkshire are being scrambled to the incident.

They're likely to be given the most seriously injured patient.

Looking at this and the location of the incident and the vehicles,

this would dictate that you get as many to hospital as possible.

The fastest transport for a patient is this aircraft.

The accident's in the middle of Beeford but pilot Paul Curtis

eyes a handy landing site next to the crash.

I will put you down, guys, on the road that comes out the south.

-Left of that big open field.

-That field, that looks all right.

I can't see any wires or obstructions.

They're experts at sizing up a landing site,

looking for and other obstacles that can endanger the chopper.

-Lovely.

-OK, down.

A local doctor is already on the scene.

A two-vehicle RTA. A gentleman got quite nasty facial lacerations.

Once again, luck has played a part - despite the impact all the children

on the bus have escaped unhurt, but their driver is badly injured.

Obviously could have been much more serious with it being a school bus but fortunately no schoolchildren

seem to have been injured.

This vehicle's been coming down the main road, this vehicle's come out and they've collided like that.

Some force to knock it that distance.

The only casualty we've seen is the driver of this vehicle,

and that seems to be facial injuries and lacerations, he's lost a fair amount of blood there.

This guy's been packaged so we'll get him on board and fly him down to Hull and get him assessed.

John Marr was driving 15 kids on his regular route to a local school when the accident happened.

Now he's on his way to hospital for surgery to his badly injured face.

After an overall exam the only thing we're concerned about is this nasty scalp wound.

Situation being it didn't look like a high speed crash but with a coach being involved and a van as well,

the transference of energy and the level of impact is probably what's brought on this head injury.

Bus drivers have to accept responsibility for 40 or more lives, often children.

John's unlikely to forget his accident.

Many bus drivers find it difficult to return to work after a crash.

Six months later, John is still undergoing

medical treatment for his injury which has cost him some movement on one side of his face.

All professional drivers have a tough job

but there's one group Sammy has particular sympathy for.

Taxi drivers drive for a living full time and they are often at risk

just by the nature of the people they are picking up, particularly Friday, Saturday nights.

A bit like us - picking up quite a lot of drunk patients.

But I think statistically, anybody who drives for a living, particularly taxi drivers,

statistically they are more likely to have an accident.

Helimed 99 is on its way to help out a cabbie

affected by another hazard of the trade - a road accident.

Keith Bailey was on his way home when he was involved in a shunt.

He's taken a bad blow to the head.

OK, I'm going in between the lay-by behind the silver car.

Ian decides to touch down.

The road's been closed and Keith has already been prepared for his flight to hospital by ground crews.

Keith's not making much sense.

Go on, Len, open door.

Paramedic Simon questions him to determine his level of consciousness.

Can you remember what's happened?

These are classic symptoms of concussion or another more worrying form of brain injury.

Listen to me, we're going to slide you in.

But at least within a few minutes

he'll be under observation at Pinderfields Hospital in Wakefield.

The gentleman has some sort of head injury concussion or possibly cerebral irritation.

He's constantly repeating himself.

The crew knew we were coming so they got the patient packaged for us.

Straight off. When everything works like this, it's fantastic.

Keith recovered and is now back at work as a cabbie,

with a much greater awareness of the dangers of his job.

You don't need to tell Sammy that driving for a living is a risky business.

But she won't be making a career change any time soon.

I consider this as my office.

It's got chairs, bed, sat nav, I've got a portable office.

I love my office.

Now, let's catch up on that story we brought you earlier.

In North Yorkshire a bad car crash has called both air ambulances into action together for the first time.

Helimed 99 from Leeds airport and Helimed 98 from Sheffield

are taking care of two injured drivers.

Both men are badly in need of hospital treatment after a head on collision on a country road.

Helimed 99 with paramedic Darren Axe and flying doctor Andy Pountney has already lifted off.

Their patient has got serious internal injuries.

They are potentially life threatening injuries so she needs to be in A&E as soon as possible.

But Helimed 98's paramedics Pete Valance and Lee Davidson

are staying with the other driver.

Mark James has been trapped behind the wheel with a broken arm.

This stuff is weird, OK? It will make you go completely fuzzy.

Firefighters have cut the roof off and Pete is ready to get him out.

Just keep still for two minutes while we get the board underneath.

Mark is incredibly calm considering he has multiple fractures.

The pain relieving drugs he's been given are helping,

but that could change when they move him.

17 miles away Helimed 99 is already landing at James Cook Hospital in Middlesbrough.

It's taken them just eight minutes to bring the seriously injured driver to the medical care he needs.

Its not always the people who appear to have the most visual injuries

that become the priorities.

The gentleman that we've brought in has got quite a painful abdomen,

closed bleeds to the abdomen are really life threatening.

As Helimed 99's patient is taken to A&E, back at the scene of the crash

paramedic Pete is guiding Mark out of his wrecked car as gently as possible.

Now, we're just going to move you. Try to keep your head still.

Mark is in good spirits but Pete knows he's been stuck for long enough and has to be moved quickly.

We're going to ease you down, OK? Just nice and steady down, chaps.

Mark's in pain but his leg's broken and Lee has to make sure

it's splinted properly before he's put onto the helicopter.

Mark, we'll get this leg sorted.

He seems stable at the moment.

Looks like he's got a long bone leg fracture. Couple of other injuries.

So, we'll make our way up and join Helimed 99 at South Cleveland.

For all the damage to the car and the time he's been trapped, he's very stable.

His general condition is pretty good.

No major cause for concern at the moment.

It's another short flight - Mark is going to the same hospital as the other driver.

And there are some familiar faces waiting for them.

It's another first - both air ambulances side by side again.

Both of their patients getting the urgent hospital care they need.

Once we knew we were required, the adrenalin starts going.

To have two aircraft together at a scene like that is very unusual,

and it was obviously a bad incident for us both to be required.

From the outset, we always envisaged two aircraft at a job.

This just proves that the plans were going in the right direction.

That's what the people of Yorkshire

donated the money for, to get both aircraft

onto the same scene when required, and take two casualties to the nearest specialist hospital.

Good way to start the day. A good job to be involved with.

With their patients in hospital, it's time to return to base.

One to Leeds, the other to Sheffield, ready to do it all again at a moment's notice.

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

Put a chest drain in.

The flying doctor is forced to perform surgery at the roadside.

An injured pensioner has lain all night in the open air but can she survive severe hypothermia?

And a boy whose dad owes him his life.

He organised everything. I was in agony.

And smiling through the pain, a Pennine rambler decides laughter's the best medicine.

OK, I'm relaxing.