Episode 17 Helicopter Heroes

If you're seriously ill or critically injured,

every second counts.

Especially if you're up high or off the beaten track.

But thanks to these guys,

the people of the UK's biggest county

are never more than ten minutes away from a hospital.

The Yorkshire Air Ambulance can do 150mph

and every day brings a new life or death emergency.

Five million people depend on these yellow helicopters

to bring life-saving care from the skies.

When a multiple pile-up closes Britain's highest motorway

or there's a serious accident on the shop floor,

the highly trained paramedics and pilots of the helimed team

are there to rescue the casualties.

Today on Helicopter Heroes.

Has he fallen down there?

A walker plunges 40ft.

Paramedic Darren faces a dangerous descent to reach him.

Now then, sir, you can pick your spot, can't you?

A biker's trapped beneath a car.

Can the team save him?

Take a deep breath for me, boss.

There's traffic chaos and the victim of a factory accident desperately needs an ambulance.

We've been on scene a good half an hour, just waiting for a land crew.

And paramedic Paul discovers a patient's drug stash.

What's that there?

The helimed paramedics often work twelve-hour shifts.

They usually have plenty of time to do training

and the paperwork that comes with any job.

But when the call comes in, they drop everything.

Today Helimed 99's taking off for Wharfedale,

one of Yorkshire's prettiest dales.

When summer comes to the village of Kettlewell,

the tourists are never far behind.

This is hardcore walking country.

Every day the dales bus delivers another party of ramblers.

And the campsites are already booked up.

But today one walker's day has ended in a serious accident.

We've been passed through a detail where we've got an elderly gentleman

that's fallen backwards we believe from a wall.

And gone down an embankment or small cliff.

For pilot Chris Atterill, it's not a routine flight.

Clouds are making his job harder and many of them have hard centres.

It doesn't look too good coming out of Leeds,

but obviously, we've dropped down a little bit.

And visibility's quite good below the cloud base itself.

It's not often the helimed team lands to get directions,

but it saves time when you're trying to find a walker

in hundreds of square miles of moorland.

What I'm going to do is try and land on the green.

The ground ambulance crew have already arrived at the scene of the incident.

They're putting RAF Rescue on stand-by.

Have you got any landing instructions yet?

-Where is it?

-We've got a casualty up to the north-west of here in a valley.

It sounds like it'll be tough to reach their patient,

but at least now they have some good directions to go on.

-There's a settlement...

-Yeah.

-And it's near that settlement.

So it's going to be, like I say, from where we were parked,

-half past two.

-Right, OK.

-Up on the high ground here.

-Yeah.

-It's just there.

But there's a problem.

The valley where the walker has fallen

is swathed in low cloud.

Even with good directions from the patient's wife,

finding him is proving hard.

Now his wife is supposed to be with him.

Can you go to the other side of this, mate,

so we can look back up the valley?

-I'll bring the nose left if that helps.

-Yeah, that helps a lot.

They know that somewhere down there, a patient desperately needs them.

But it's look increasingly like they'll fail to reach him.

I hate to see this, guys, but I don't think we're much use here.

No. I tend to think that way myself.

I can't see anything.

Then pilot Chris's eagle eyes spot the casualty.

-Ah!

-You got him?

-Yeah.

Darren knows this is going to be a difficult rescue.

-Belt coming off, mate.

-OK.

-Bag coming off.

-Rights.

-Disconnected.

-OK.

-He's disconnected.

-Just stepping out.

-OK.

Medic 1 to air desk.

I'm on the ground

with the patient.

Can you definitely keep the RAF running towards this detail? Over.

The walker's wife spells out the severity of the fall.

Flippin' heck!

Has he fallen down there?

-Where is he?

-Down the bottom here.

Down the bottom. Right.

Good. Just bear with me.

Cos this is treacherous.

Darren knows the man's lucky to be alive.

His injuries could be very serious.

He has a nasty looking head injury,

but Darren is keeping it cheerful.

Now then, sir, you can pick your spot, can't you?

Normally, paramedics avoid moving their patients,

but this case is different.

Tony Robinson's in real danger here.

He fell from the top? And his face was in the water?

I had to get his face out of the water.

-Tony...

-Yeah?

-Are you all right sat there? You're not sliding off?

-I feel as if I'm a bit precarious.

-Right.

Do you think with my help we can step onto there and sit on that rock?

Possibly. Possibly. It depends on this hip.

Well, Tony, just let me get positioned first.

Right.

Right, Tony.

-I've got you.

-This right leg isn't moving properly.

Is it not? Put it down.

-Agh!

-Right, get on your good leg.

Got it, got it.

One, two, three, go.

Agh.

I've got you! I've got you, Tony! I've got you!

If you're going, I'm going. So don't worry.

It's been an ordeal for Tony's wife.

We were following a walk from Buckden

up towards the mines.

And...

It got very misty, very wet.

And the pass...

The walk we were following didn't seem to be right.

And to be fair, I got quite nervous.

So we decided to come back to the mines,

and to follow the path down the river.

And the problem was it was slippery,

we were just negotiating this bit here when he slipped

and just crashed to the bottom.

And to be fair, I thought he was dead.

Thanks to a passer-by, rescue has finally arrived.

I scrambled down and lifted his head out of the water.

And screamed and screamed and screamed

and a man came down there.

I don't know where he came from...

..Who helped me get him out of the water onto that ledge,

and then we tried the phones, and there was just no signal.

That was at about...

half-past two, quarter-to-three,

and he set off down the hill to try and get some help.

But Tony's still in real danger.

It's more than an hour since his fall.

He's soaking wet from the stream and he's very cold.

He's also battling cancer and hypothermia's a real possibility.

Coming up - mountain rescue join the fight to save Tony.

It's just drizzled and rained on and off all day

and just made all this limestone ground very, very slippy.

There's a serious accident on the shop floor.

We're only some four minutes' flying time from LGI,

but they won't accept the patient.

And the teams called to treat a car thief.

The green car overtook us, just weaving from side to side.

If you have a serious accident,

there's one thing you really need on your side.

And that's luck.

Just a fraction of an inch can mean the difference

between a minor injury and death.

High in Nidderdale, Menwith Hill is an RAF base that's been described

as the biggest electronic monitoring station in the world.

It's run by America's National Security Agency

and has security to match.

Today it's got visitors.

Helimed 99 has been scrambled

to a serious accident outside the main gates.

We've got a couple of parked vehicles down there now.

I don't know if that's somebody parked up or not.

Oh, I've got a visual.

Yeah, visual.

I can see that.

A motorcyclist is trapped under a jeep

that was being driven by a worker turning into the base.

They don't usually welcome surprise visitors here,

but today they'll make an exception for paramedics Tony and Sammy.

-He probably has been unconscious. No pain except his right ankle in actual fact.

-OK.

-Haven't done the neck yet cos he's under the car and he's got a helmet on.

-Yep.

His sats and his pulse is OK. That's all I've really done.

-I think we've got a tib and fib so we'll deal with that before we move him out.

-OK.

It's a miracle the biker's still alive.

He was unconscious for a time,

and the weight of the vehicle was pressing down on his chest.

But the base's own fire engine was scrambled

and firefighters quickly raised the jeep using an airbag.

Can you score your pain for me, out of ten?

My ankle?

Whatever bit hurts the most.

-My ankle.

-Out of ten, what would you score?

About seven or eight.

Seven or eight. OK then, boss.

We're not quite sure how he's ended up there,

whether he's gone under at the front or the side.

Just complaining of leg pain initially.

Sammy's just doing some basic observations

before we do anything else.

Sorry, Sammy?

I think what we do, as we bring him out, we splint it at the same time.

This is a risky process.

The vehicle's weight is being supported by the air bag

and a few chunks of timber.

Right, if you can reach in to under his shoulder that side,

can you get to that?

I'll get that and you get his pelvis, yeah?

To examine the biker properly,

they're going to have to remove him from under the jeep.

We're just going to support your leg

and then we're going to slide you out, OK?

So, literally go about six inches first, everybody happy?

Ready, steady, slide.

And brace.

I've now got his head there.

Hello, you all right, Dave?

Biker David Skeet was on his way home from work

when the accident happened.

Try and relax.

-Do you take any medication for anything?

-No.

-No? None whatsoever.

His helmet probably helped save his life,

but now it's getting in Sammy's way.

We slid him out and we're just assessing him now.

The portions we couldn't reach properly under the car.

Now David's helmet's off, Sammy can see her patient's face.

Cos of the thickness of the clothing his head isn't on the head block.

-Is that all right if we just cut your jacket?

-Yes.

-Thank you.

You say your pain's about six out of ten,

-has it reduced since we've pulled you out from underneath?

-A little.

A little bit.

David's thinking about his family, they're expecting him home for tea.

Can you let my wife know?

We can organise all that at the hospital, all right?

-It's not a problem. Is she expecting you home about now?

-Yeah.

The fire brigade were happy to take a risk while David was being freed.

Now they want everyone away from the unstable jeep.

From a safety point of view, guys, is there any chance we can move away...

And get my feet out from underneath this? That'd work for me!

That's fine.

-If we could just move another foot this way.

-We can do that.

Stop!

Would you like to try some gas and air? See if that helps your ankle?

Yeah?

The base's armed police are more used to focusing on terrorism,

but they're happy to make sure

David's family finds out what's happened.

There's someone going round to your house anyway.

It looks like David's had a miraculous escape,

but a medical team at Harrogate Hospital

are already on standby to examine him.

For a good reason.

He's quite stable and clearly, he could have fractured his leg.

Hopefully it's nothing more serious,

but if that's gone over him at some point

there's maybe some internal injuries that we're not aware of yet.

Coming up, the biker's free, but his symptoms are worrying Sammy.

His blood pressure has been a bit low.

The ravine rescue begins.

We've got to move our casualty to a clear area

where we're visible to the helicopter.

And a driver collides with a wall.

It looks like she sustained quite a significant head injury.

The Yorkshire Air Ambulance choppers cover an area of more than 6,000 square miles.

No two incidents are the same,

but some factors are often familiar to the flying paramedics.

It's rush hour in Bradford,

and thousands are heading home to the suburbs. But 1,500 feet above them,

Helimed 99 is on a mission to a serious factory accident.

Paramedics Lee Davison and James Vine carry morphine,

and that's what their patient desperately needs.

This guy has got a crush injury,

lower legs, isolated limb,

but that's just to give him more pain relief.

We carry morphine, so we're making our way over there to back up the crew

and help the patient with some good, strong painkillers.

At an engineering works, there's been an accident involving a fork-lift truck.

Nigel Wilson's foot is crushed.

We've just got visual of the landing scene, over.

Helimed 99 is on final approach to the factory yard.

It's not far from the city centre,

but it's an ideal helipad.

All clear there.

Inside?

Ground paramedics have already started treating Nigel,

whose foot was trapped between the fork-lift and a stack of steel pipes,

which the company makes.

He's got a left lower open compound fracture.

Yeah.

Compound fracture.

He's been trapped between the fork-lift and one of them steel reels there.

I don't know how much one of them weighs.

I might not be able to hear you very well, so come back in.

I brought you some morphine.

He's in a bad way. There's a real risk he may lose his foot,

and he's bleeding internally.

We've got one of the emergency care practitioners that's arrived on scene.

So he's just trying to give him a bit of a nerve block currently,

just to try and stem the pain.

At the moment, we're going to see what we can do and see if that works.

The firm take safety seriously.

The fork-lifts are essential to move stock around the factory.

He got on the fork-lift to drive down

and didn't take his leg in as he set off

and he's caught his leg on a coil.

Nigel's just become a statistic,

one of around 400 workers who'll need hospital treatment

as a result of fork-lift trucks this year in the UK.

Around 10 of them will die.

We are having difficulty communicating with the patient

due to the noise. It can make it difficult to converse with your patient

to find out what's wrong with them. The sooner we can get him out

makes it easier for us to get a good communication going.

The nerve block's not working as well as they or Nigel would like.

Lee will have to give him morphine.

It's a controlled drug,

with a strict procedure to go with it.

January 13, so it's in date.

It's morphine, 10 mg.

Nigel's injury is serious enough to require complex surgery.

The team would like to fly him to specialist surgeons

at the Leeds General Infirmary 10 miles away.

But they're already busy with other cases.

We're only four minutes' flying time from LGI,

but they won't accept the patient.

They've got some trauma where we've just been.

We've taken a couple into them.

So I've given the patient some pain relief,

tried to get him comfortable.

We're just waiting for a land crew to come

and I'll have to go in the vehicle into Bradford.

Then the crew will have to pick me up.

But there's another problem.

An earlier accident on the M62 motorway

has led to huge tailbacks,

and made Bradford's rush hour even worse than usual.

Many major roads are gridlocked

and the ground ambulance has to reach the factory through the jams.

It's the worst time of the day to be in a hurry.

There's a land crew coming.

I don't know exactly how long they're going to be.

That's the easiest option currently.

Finally the ambulance reaches the factory gates,

but its crew now face the problem of finding their patient.

We've been on scene half an hour just waiting for a land crew.

That's how it goes sometimes.

Can't be helped.

Because Lee's given Nigel morphine,

he will have to travel to hospital with him

so he can brief doctors there first-hand.

Bradford Royal Infirmary doesn't have a helipad,

so Lee will be travelling back to Helimed 99 by taxi.

His colleagues are heading off for more fuel.

How long was your foot trapped?

-Quick as that.

-Right.

-Just nipped it.

-It bent it backwards.

Right.

Fighting through the traffic is difficult for the driver.

Agonising for Nigel.

Just keep topping you up with a bit of morphine.

Just try and keep the edge off it.

Finally, Nigel's made it to hospital,

where he's met by his worried wife.

Surgeons operate on him within hours.

But a month later he's still in bed,

after his injury proved to be even more difficult to treat than doctors predicted.

They made the decision to amputate the foot, which they did,

and I'm now on the plastic surgery,

waiting for the wound to be closed up with plastic surgery.

I think prior to the accident I was a bit of a hard nut, I never cried,

but I can now!

Definitely.

It's changed my perspective on life, definitely.

One day Nigel hopes to walk again,

but he knows the road to recovery will be long and painful.

Coming up - the trapped biker's lucky to be alive.

The doctors fear he may have a serious head injury.

He's 32, normally fit and well. Rider of...

Ooh, can you get his helmet? Think it's in the boot, yeah.

And the family whose day out ended in a collision with a stolen car.

The green car overtook us, just weaving from side to side.

Now, let's return to that incident we brought you earlier,

and the helimed team is hard at work.

High in Wharfedale, the helimed team is fighting the weather and the landscape

to rescue a walker who's plunged 40 feet down a moorland ravine.

We've had trouble finding him with the helicopter,

because of the low cloud and because he's fallen in tree cover,

but eventually his wife were able to gesture to t'helicopter

and show us where we needed to be,

but we couldn't land here with the helicopter,

so we've had to drop Daz off best we could, a few hundred yards away,

and then drop myself off in a place where it was safe to land,

which was another few hundred yards further away.

Several times we thought we've heard the helicopter

but...couldn't see it...

I daredn't leave him because...

he was ledged with his feet on that bit there, on that bottom, he was cold, he was shivering,

he'd got quite a big head wound, er...

and I just daredn't leave him,

so eventually I stuck my stick with a carrier bag on it at the top

and...finally heard the helicopter and went running and wasn't sure that they'd seen me.

An RAF chopper's been called in to winch cancer patient Tony Robinson out of the ravine

but he's not out of the woods yet.

He had a hip replacement, he had two hernias,

then he had a brain tumour removed,

and then they told us it was secondary from his kidney...

and he'd come on this holiday just to...do some walking,

and how can anybody have gone through all of that...and I thought he was going to die...in that water.

A sheet of foil may look a poor substitute for a warm coat

but its heat-keeping properties are amazing

and the team's determined to prevent Tony getting hypothermia.

I think the plan, lads, is get him out of this spot, into a bit of open valley,

where they could actually see what's going off and they'll drop a basket in for that.

Local ground paramedics have had to walk three miles from the nearest road.

This area is as remote as the Dales get.

We've got Search and Rescue coming, they'll be here in about ten minutes,

and Mountain Rescue have just arrived on scene

and we're moving the casualty to a clear area, where he'll be visible to the Search and Rescue helicopter,

and they're going to winch him off the hillside for us, hopefully.

Tony's going to be strapped to a spinal board for his rescue flight

but first volunteers from the local cave rescue team

will carry him down the stream into which he's fallen.

It'll be a risky operation.

It's slippy. Yeah, it's just really, really greasy.

It's been one of them days where it's drizzled and rained on and off

and made all this limestone ground very, very slippy.

It's just an unfortunate accident, really.

Coming up - Tony's on his way to hospital at last.

He was extremely wet, because he obviously had been in the water, and probably had been unconscious.

And the patient who's under observation...and arrest.

Thanks to an awful lot of luck,

one biker looks like he's had a very narrow escape after an accident in North Yorkshire,

but paramedics Tony and Sammy are very worried by their patient's symptoms.

A road accident outside one of the UK's most secure military bases

has left a biker badly injured.

-You say your pain's about six out of ten?

-Yeah.

-Has it reduced since we've pulled you out from underneath?

-A little.

For 20 minutes, David Skeet was pinned under a Jeep

driven by an American employee driving into the Menwith Hill base.

At the moment he's just got pain in his left leg

so clearly injuries to that, but no obvious fractures.

Now he's been freed, thanks to the base's firefighting team

and paramedics Sammy Wills and Tony Wilkes.

All we've found up to now is that you might have broken your leg, OK, your ankle, I think,

-but because of where you've been, and the potential, we're going to fly you to Harrogate District.

-OK.

-Have you ever been there before?

-I've not been in hospital for years.

That's a good thing, then, isn't it?

We're now flying POB, from Menwith Hill to Harrogate Hospital. We'll call when there.

At 150mph, the flight from the hills of Nidderdale to the centre of Harrogate

will take just five minutes.

Paramedic Sammy thinks her patient has escaped certain death by inches.

It sounds like, from the witness, that he went between the wheels,

and it might be just his ankle that's been run over.

If there is the complication of maybe internal bleeding or chest injury,

we've not found any of that,

although his blood pressure has been a bit low, so we're just preparing.

David's about to undergo a series of tests designed to identify internal injuries.

Only then will doctors be able to tell whether his lucky escape is quite as fortunate as it appears.

But witnesses said he's hit the floor before and gone between the wheels.

On my arrival it's just his legs that are sticking out from underneath.

Against all the odds, it turns out he's only suffered minor concussion,

and less than 24 hours after the accident that could have killed him

David's back on his feet.

Well, one of them, at least.

His memories of his brush with death are still hazy.

The only clear bit I remember is opening my eyes

and seeing the underneath of a vehicle very close to me

but no actual feelings of that, of any pain or...surrounding, where I was, or anything.

It was just...literally opened my eyes,

recognised the underneath of a vehicle, and then out again.

And then the next one was where the vehicle was being jacked up.

The next thing I remember was waking up in hospital, erm...

and I was in Accident and Emergency on the stretcher

and my wife and eldest daughter was there. Erm...

It was quite surreal because I was just in full conversation with them

but couldn't quite understand how I was there.

Just three days after his crash,

David's fit enough to walk out of Harrogate Hospital.

And two weeks after that he's visiting the helimed team with his wife and son.

He's here to find out what happened that day.

He still can't remember his flight.

What do you remember of the incident? Do you remember us turning up?

Not at all, no. The only things that I can remember was leaving work

and then a few other bits that had to be confirmed,

and the main one was when I was in hospital, with my wife and daughter there,

so I don't remember any of the flight or you guys turning up or anything.

Coming up... The rescue in the Dales reaches its climax.

Some people fall victim to freak accidents when they least expect it.

Others increase their chances of becoming a casualty

by taking risks. The helimed team treats them all the same.

Responding to 999 calls isn't cheap.

It costs seven grand a day to keep the helimed choppers in the air,

and the Yorkshire Ambulance Service alone has an annual budget of £200.

No-one worries about the money, of course, unless the expense could have so easily been avoided.

On the A1 in North Yorkshire, there are reports of a major accident.

The cars will have just come out of a 50-mile-an-hour zone

and they're up to 70 to where they are.

This is what's probably caused the crash.

Helimed 98 is on the case.

Two cars are wrecked and several people are hurt.

There are currently two vehicles and seven casualties.

Something in the field here. You see the red building?

-Oh, yeah. I can see everyone with DayGlo jackets.

-Yup.

We've had you down and we're going to sit you up.

-If you kick off again, you're going back on the floor, yeah?

-OK.

Police are looking after one of the patients.

But not in the usual way.

-Has he self-extricated from the vehicle? Was he out the vehicle when you got here?

-Yeah.

-He's been up and walking about? He's not been cooperative to any sort of treatment at this stage?

-No.

This was the driver of one of the cars.

Officers have used their CS spray to subdue him,

while medics deal with his passengers

and the people in the other car involved in the accident.

Passenger in this green car here, it's just him that's got the head injury.

This is the worst one if you want to transport.

The green car overtook us just weaving from side to side.

And then when we... I said, "There's something not right there."

As we came round the corner, we just saw all the dust and smoke.

I said, "That's the green car." We didn't realise they'd taken off the Megane as well.

I'm just going to have a quick listen to your chest. Couple of deep breaths in.

In and out.

Just be wary around him.

Dealing with difficult patients is all in a day's work for paramedics,

but it is particularly difficult when your ambulance flies at 1,500 feet.

Most of the casualties are stable.

They'll be going to hospital for precautionary check-ups.

But it's still involved the emergency services,

about four ambulances, three fire engines and numerous police units.

It's been a real stretch on the emergency services up this neck of the woods.

The fact he has no licence may explain the erratic driving.

I don't know, actually. Really.

I looked up and everything was fine, I looked down - that was it.

I don't know.

Is there pain in your jaw?

Luckily, the injured passenger from the car is placid

and his mate is just concerned.

Is this guy green Punto?

-Yeah. Passenger.

-So the one that was showing off, he was driving, and that other kid was in the back.

Yeah. Yeah, basically.

HE MURMURS

-They've CS gassed him.

-Have they?

-Yeah.

Just what you want(!)

The passenger is flown to James Cook Hospital in Middlesbrough for treatment.

All three people in the hatchback later had a chat with my former colleagues.

Driving when you've had a drink is illegal

and for very good reasons. Your judgement is seriously impaired.

The flying paramedics have seen the effects far too often.

Pilot Tim Taylor is used to landing in tight spots.

But today's landing in a suburb of Sheffield is going to be especially difficult.

A people carrier has crashed into a wall at high speed.

Three people are hurt.

Helimed 98 now making a landing. Over.

Luckily, Tim's got an eye for a helipad

and he's spotted a patch of waste ground 100 metres from the crash.

Looks a little bit on a slope as well.

Yeah. He likes a challenge.

I'm just going to take my turn for the right.

-Clear my side.

-That looks good.

-The slope is going to take us down.

-Yeah.

It was good for me.

Paramedic Sammy Wills has been beaten to the scene by a local ambulance crew.

-She says the other one is minor injury.

-All right.

-The wall impact.

-Yeah.

Neil is just assessing that one. I'm just going to go round the other side.

Just relax. I'm one of the doctors. I'm going to have a quick listen on your lungs.

We're going to listen to your chest.

The female driver of the car is badly hurt. Police believe she has been drinking.

Whoa, whoa, whoa.

All right.

She's resisting her rescuers,

and firefighters are finding it difficult to free her.

Flying doctor Anil Hormis fears she may have a head injury.

Just open your eyes for me.

The circumstances of the accident are confused.

I've just found a third casualty. He's climbed out himself.

Can we just get another crew?

The car is badly damaged,

but the driver's condition is concerning Anil.

We need to get her out quickly cos she's in and out of consciousness.

-So you want her straight out?

-We'll get her onto a board and anaesthetise her.

So get this door out the way, get this back door, fold it to the floor. Happy with space?

We've got to pop this door first.

Keep your eyes open for me, pet. Keep your eyes open.

That's it. Well done. The door is just coming off now, OK?

Sammy to Tim, could you bring our D-fib?

We're going to RSI her and take control of her airway.

Bit more humane, as well as the fact she's fighting as well.

-All right, darling.

-Ready, steady, slide.

-There we go.

The team will anaesthetise the patient before they fly her.

This is a difficult process, even in a hospital,

but Dr Anil has done it many times before.

I'm going to put on this mask. Take some deep breaths.

The woman is now asleep and the team is breathing for her,

pumping air into her lungs manually.

She's been in a fairly horrendous car crash, as you can probably see.

She looks like she sustained quite a significant head injury.

We've anaesthetised her as soon as we got her out the car,

and we'll fly her to Northern General so the trauma team can look.

I'm just worried she's got a bleed into her brain,

which is why we're in a bit of a rush to get her out of here.

She's flown to Sheffield's Northern General Hospital,

where she is treated for what turns out to be relatively minor injuries.

She is later arrested and charged with drink driving.

Pilot Tim gets more than his fair share of difficult patients,

and today is no exception.

One car is down there and one car is here.

There's the one in the field.

On a country road,

firefighters are trying to free the victims of a two-car crash.

Helimed 98 has been called to take one of the patients.

It's two casualties - one's going to Worksop, one's going to Kingsmill.

Take your pick.

Injury's to his sternum...

A little bit of nausea on the top right side from the seatbelt area.

It's just been pandemonium.

Try to stay still.

Open your eyes, right. Tell me where you're hurting.

He's clearly in pain.

Or is he?

Paramedic Paul Bradbury has treated hundreds of people

injured in car smashes, but this time something is different.

What's hurting you?

Your lower back? Right. Anywhere else?

-MAN GROANS

-Your legs hurting?

Just say yes or no.

-Legs?

-GROANING CONTINUES

-No. Right. Chest?

-GROANING CONTINUES

-No.

-Put your legs flat, sunshine, OK.

His patient's cries don't follow the usual pattern.

Where's that hurting?

They can't find any injuries.

And he appears to be concealing something in his jeans.

I'll take that bag.

They can see part of a plastic bag.

What's that there? MAN GROANS

Listen, open your eyes for me. Have you taken anything?

HE GROANS Hey?

Honestly?

-GROANING INTENSIFIES

-The police are clearly curious, too.

Do you see where his hands are now?

-He's shoved them down the front of his trousers.

-HE GROANS

Does that hurt?

No.

Let's just feel down here. Move over to your side.

Despite their suspicions, the team must treat the man

as if he has a genuine injury. His car is certainly a mess.

Quite a horrific accident, caused by speed as well.

Have to go nice and high, guys. Right up.

But once he's loaded on board Helimed 98,

they decide to find out what's in his waistband.

It could have a bearing on his condition.

MAN GROANS

Sure enough, there's a bag of powder.

A few minutes ago, this was a routine car crash.

Now the police are taking a greater interest.

Drugs can make people behave just as unpredictably as booze.

The team is getting a police escort to hospital in Sheffield.

-We're going to have to take one of the coppers.

-Yeah.

If you want, we'll take one of you guys with us.

I'm just thinking if he kicks off...

We're taking a police officer with us because we don't want

the gentleman to kick off on their route to the hospital.

That's just for our safety just in case he does.

The gentleman has also got pinpoint pupils which obviously indicates some sort of drug-type overdose.

On arrival, the man was found to have minor injuries

and he was soon given a private room...

in the local nick where he was charged with possession of drugs.

I'm pleased to say all our patients are now on the mend,

although my former colleagues in the force may still have a few questions.

Now, being a flying paramedic is never easy

as the teams found out today.

High in Wharfedale, a major rescue operation is under way to rescue walker Tony Robinson who slipped

and fell 40 feet down a ravine, injuring his head.

Paramedic Darren Axe has called in the military,

a Sea King chopper with a winch on its way.

We've completely mobilised him, obviously, with assistance

from Cave Rescue and we're going to try and take him down that section

of waterfall, get him into some open ground

for when the RAF Search and Rescue team turn up from...

Leconfield, we think, to move him from where he is now.

One, two, three...

Lift!

Cave Rescue volunteers must now carry Tony down the stream

into which he fell.

It's a journey that's fraught with danger -

overhanging trees mean even the RAF can't winch him up from where he fell.

We got a call saying that the RAF were on their way as well

so we just had to bring him down this short section

and get him ready for the RAF.

The Sea King helicopter from RAF Leconfield,

70 miles away, weighs six tonnes and has a downwash to match.

But this is still far from routine.

Winds from the surrounding hills are buffeting the chopper.

Its pilots are having to hover in the 100 feet or so of clear air

below the clouds and above the unforgiving rocks

that almost killed Tony.

But thanks to the skill of the Sea King's crew,

Tony's finally on his way to the hospital treatment

he desperately needs.

This gentleman has fallen 20 feet plus down this steep embankment.

He's landed face down. He has sustained a head injury.

He's also complaining of a lot of pain in his right hip,

but he has had a previous hip replacement.

We managed to get to him and stabilise him somewhat.

He was extremely wet because he'd been in the water and probably been unconscious, but we're not sure.

If he was any higher in this valley, we might not have been able to get to him because as you can see,

the clouds are onto the tops of the fells

so we were fortunate.

Within 20 minutes, 64-year-old Tony is arriving at Harrogate Hospital.

He'd been determined to go on a walking holiday in the Dales,

staying in his brother's caravan. But he didn't expect it to end like this.

Because of the weather, we aborted the trip were were planning

and decided to walk down to the valley floor by the most direct route.

It was quite steep.

The bends were quite serious, but...

the underfoot conditions were safe.

Well, I thought they were safe until the point where they became distinctly unsafe for me.

At that point, apparently I went over a rock face

and apparently

went over the edge and into the water.

Tony's a Yorkshireman living in Cambridge.

He's an experienced walker who made a simple mistake.

I feel lucky. I feel stupid.

Over the year, we've warned children

to be very careful about where they put their feet.

And then, clumsy clot, I go and do exactly what they're not supposed to do.

So I feel...lucky there.

Stupid though!

But also...

immensely fortunate...

..that Terry...

..and the other people who were involved were so prompt

with their actions.

They're skilled at what they do.

When Helicopter Heroes comes back...

a truck overturns and its driver may be paralysed.

Certainly some pelvis injury, I'm sure.

Down in the woods, there's a difficult rescue for the team.

-We're going to need assistance from the fire service.

-Paramedic Glen finds the patient's a neighbour.

-I didn't know you mountain-biked!

-Yeah!

-And pilot Chris

battles appalling weather to reach his patient.

This is getting a big dodgy. Yeah.

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