Episode 16 Helicopter Heroes

If you're critically ill or seriously injured,

seconds count. And in Britain's biggest county,

you can be a long way from help.

-Where's the patient?

-She's stuck under the car!

The Yorkshire Air Ambulance flies at 150 miles an hour

and thanks to its speed, hundreds of patients are alive today,

saved by a highly-skilled team of doctors and paramedics.

Stand clear, everybody!

It covers some of the UK's most rugged landscapes,

turning roadsides into operating theatres.

I'm giving an emergency anaesthetic.

And town centres into heli-pads.

And every day, the Heli-Med teams' skill, speed and courage is saving lives.

Today on Helicopter Heroes:

a runner is fighting for his life after a night stranded on the freezing fells.

He's spent all night on the moors with a broken leg.

A bizarre crash leaves a biker badly injured.

Once I got off the floor, I saw him under the car.

A golfer is feeling below par after a painful slip on the green.

Walked out of the bunker. Next thing, right leg disappeared underneath.

And putting the flags out for the Jubilee ends in agony.

He's fallen around five metres from a drainpipe at the side of his house.

It's easy to forget that some of Britain's most beautiful places

are also some of its most dangerous,

especially if you're caught out by the weather.

Here in the hills, the temperature drops by one degree

for every 300 feet you climb,

making even a spring evening lethally chilly.

RADIO PIPS

'It's seven o'clock. Police are appealing for help after a man went missing from his home

'near Ramsbottom. 65-year-old Steven Iggulden was last seen yesterday afternoon.

'Police and mountain rescuers have been involved in the search.

'His family say they're extremely worried.'

1,500 feet up in the Pennines, the temperature plunged to minus two last night.

But the Rossendale and Pendle mountain rescue team

is about to make an extraordinary discovery.

We're going to a patient who's fallen quite a long way.

We think he's got a broken leg.

We don't think there's a crew at the moment on scene,

so we may well be first there.

Pilot Steve Cobb must find a landing site on the hills above the remote Naden reservoir.

It's not going to be easy.

-Which way's the wind blowing?

-It's behind us.

-Right.

What about on top of the... See where there's people in the red?

There is a path on the far side that goes down. It's a bit of a trek but we can get down.

I'll get round the back of these windmills.

Mountain rescue have been searching for the missing fell runner.

It's a familiar accident.

But paramedic Graham Pemberton is about to find out that this is no ordinary case.

Hello, mate. How you doing?

This is Anthony. I'll give you the details.

-Anthony's been here overnight.

-I just heard.

-65-year old.

He's conscious and breathing. He's quite confused.

Right.

Dressed in only a vest and shorts,

their patient has survived 23 hours in sub-zero temperatures

with a broken leg and a serious head wound.

We were searching from nine last night till two this morning.

We came back at first light this morning.

A couple of bikers helped us in the search and one of them found him.

The paramedics are down with him at the moment.

They're assessing how he is.

-Anthony?

-Yes?

-How you doing down there, mate?

ANTHONY'S REPLIES INDISTINCT

I don't know. How have you ended up down here?

Anthony Iggulden, Steve to his friends, is a keen fell runner,

competing in mountain marathons over rough terrain.

His Alzheimer's has done little to reduce his stamina

or his enthusiasm. But last night he failed to come home.

Keep your arms down by your side, Anthony.

Not much longer and we'll get you wrapped up nice and warm, mate.

I've done motorbike events over these moors. I know it quite well.

I looked in the bits the helicopter might not be able to spot.

Little overhangs, some of the valleys that are tucked away.

To be honest, it was touch and go whether I bothered coming this far out.

We were just doing a final check on this side of the valley

with their being some crags up there with overhangs,

and went and had a check and as I came over the crest,

although you don't expect to find anything,

I had one of those moments where I thought, "That's the man."

On move again. Ready, steady, move.

We've had a lot of witnesses come forward, people in one area,

and we concentrated our efforts on that area.

From what I understand, the gentleman who located him, where he was last seen,

his local knowledge is better than what we know about the area up here.

Thankfully, he's gone and found him.

Ready, steady, move.

His rescuers now know why.

But their patient's survival is in real doubt.

He may need an RAF helicopter to winch him out.

He's spent all night out on the moors

with a broken leg, scalp injury.

And I think he might have damaged his other leg as well.

He's obviously suffering quite a lot of exposure.

The RAF are being...a bit non-committal

about whether they can get in to us.

So we'll have to use mountain rescue to get him up the hill to our helicopter.

It's feared he's fallen up to 50 feet down the cliff-face.

He's confused, and that could be a symptom of a serious head injury.

But hypothermia is the most imminent threat to his life.

Anthony, is it hurting at all anywhere now,

now we've dragged you round?

He has been well wrapped up, but desperately needs hospital treatment.

But first his rescuers need to work out how to carry him up the sheer cliff-face.

It may take time that he cannot afford.

If you ride a bike, all you have to protect you in an accident

is your helmet, your boots and your leathers.

And what you hit is entirely down to chance.

The hill above the Yorkshire market town of Otley

is called The Chevin.

And its 1,000-foot summit, overlooking Wharfedale,

is aptly named Surprise View.

On a clear day, it's a popular destination,

attracting hundreds of bikers and day-trippers.

We can land this side. He can get through that gate.

5-8 over. Seeing the final approach. Over.

The rider of this bike came out to enjoy the sights of Wharfedale.

But the only view in front of him is the underside of a Ford Fiesta.

-Hello, Stuart.

-He has lost consciousness.

-OK.

-He's fully with us.

-Lovely.

-His shoulder is his priority.

OK.

Two bikes were involved in the crash.

But the other rider was luckier than Stuart.

The car pulled across the road to turn into this car park.

The first rider bumped into him. Then obviously I did as well.

Once I got off the floor, I saw him under the car.

You keep still for us. You're just going to feel the helmet ease over your ears.

Try and keep your head still for me.

Just tilt it over his nose.

-Oh!

-Sorry, boss. Just pull it from the bottom.

That's it. There you go.

As well as some broken bones, Stuart has crush injuries.

What I'd like to do now, boss, is stick a little needle in your arm.

Can you talk to me when you're raising, so I'm ready? Let me know.

-We're ready to raise more if you want.

-Not yet. I need to listen to his chest first.

Sammy is worried her patient's condition could deteriorate

if the car is suddenly lifted.

I'd like to have a needle in in case he drops his blood pressure when we do that.

It could lead to uncontrolled internal bleeding.

His injuries are pretty serious.

Crush injuries are always a worry, so we want to get him to hospital as quickly as possible.

He is able to breathe. It's just when you release him, with his blood pressure,

I need to make sure I've got an option to give him something.

All right? Two seconds.

We've got these airbags that we put air into

and it slowly pushes the car up.

But it makes the car a bit unstable when we do that.

so we'll have to chock it. We're on the call of the paramedics as well

because he's been trapped for a bit of time

and that causes crush injuries which causes more complications.

Sammy makes sure everything is in place before they move him.

Sammy knows releasing the weight of the car could harm her patient.

She also knows it's something that has to be done - now.

When it comes to dangerous sports, I wouldn't put golf near the top of the list!

But you'd be surprised how often the Heli-Med team has to touch down on the fairway.

They say golf is one of those games that's deceptively simple

yet endlessly complicated.

But today, a bit of overenthusiastic celebrating of a great shot

has left one golfer with a painful injury.

He played out the bunker. His ball's on the green.

He just walked onto the bank, literally walked a yard,

and his legs went from under him.

There's a golf cart there. There is a crew on scene.

Is it slightly to the right?

There's three in the same vicinity.

I'm not sure if that grid's 100 per cent accurate.

This part of Yorkshire is a bit of a golfing hot-spot.

Finding the right hole on the right course is going to be tricky.

-There's quite a few close together.

-There's three.

I think that's it. I've played that.

Paramedic James Vine is a golfer himself,

clearly wishing he was playing a round today.

DISCUSSION INDISTINCT

Why don't we just go over and move the balls a bit?

He's slipped and it's gone underneath him.

-He's getting a bit numb, but he thinks it's from the position he's in.

-Right.

Rather than anything else.

Keep going on that, mate.

He's golfing and he's slipped on the bank. His leg's gone underneath him.

It looks like he's dislocated his ankle.

Golf's a game that's built around team work and camaraderie.

Simon Darby's team mate, Steve, is clearly concerned.

But not necessarily about Simon's injured leg.

He's conceded my putt before he slipped

so that's not bad going, is it?

I got a result out of it.

Trouble is, he was carrying me round the golf course!

I don't know what I'm going to do for the next 12 holes!

After what Simon has described as one of his best-ever bunker shots,

he lost concentration, fell over and has a serious leg injury.

With a deformity like this, it's crucial blood can still flow to the foot.

The best way to sort that is also the most painful way.

Keep going. Big deep breaths!

They need to straighten and splint his leg.

Keep going! Keep going!

Has it gone back in?

That looks better than it did.

Golf courses can clearly be dangerous places.

And even when the paramedics are with you,

there are still hazards to watch out for.

Watch this golf bag here!

Just keep going. Watch it!

-I've got spikes on!

-I think you have.

Haven't you?

Looks like he's got a potential fracture dislocation of his ankle.

The ankle's certainly dislocated.

He's got a good pulse at the moment,

so now we've aligned the fracture site,

we'll get him down to LGI and let the orthopaedic surgeons have a look.

Yes. 52 years. Isolated right ankle. It looks like it's dislocated.

I've had a few jobs on golf courses. All of them have been a pain.

This one's very good cos they don't mind you driving

but a lot of them don't want you driving near the greens cos it's such an expensive thing.

But people get ill on the golf courses. They have heart attacks or falls in the bunkers,

as this gentleman's done.

Just played a really good bunker shot, and just as I was feeling happy,

I walked out the bunker and next thing the right leg disappeared underneath.

Two cracks as I went down.

As I was lying on my back, I realised my foot was at 90 degrees to my knee!

-Get that score card marked up. I'll give you that.

-I was holding the match together, as well!

They won't win now without me!

Simon's flight to hospital lasts just four minutes.

No golfer wants their round to end like this.

All this for a bunker shot!

But it's clear Simon still has the game on his mind.

You've got to see how close to the flag it finished!

But it'll be a while before he's tee-ing off again!

Now let's return to the windswept hills above Rochdale,

where the team is fighting to rescue a fell runner

who's lucky to be alive after a night in sub-zero temperatures.

Fell running is a sport only for the fittest.

Runners who take on gruelling marathons in treacherous terrain.

Man against mountain. Injuries are common.

But this runner is lucky to be alive.

-Anthony, can you open your eyes for me?

-Yes.

Well done that man.

Anthony, Steve to his mates, has survived a night in sub-zero temperatures,

dressed in shorts and a running vest.

Unfortunately, this male's come up on his own with no means of communication,

no mobile phone or telephone.

Obviously when he's not returned, there's no means to contact him.

So they've contacted us about a missing person.

When they came up last night, they contacted mountain rescue.

The fact he's still alive is a little short of a miracle.

I saw the chap laid against the fence there.

We knew straightaway this is obviously the person we'd all been looking for.

With him not moving, there was a time where I thought it might be the worst outcome.

But as I got closer, I could see he was shivering

so I dumped the bike, took off my fleece, covered him up as best I could.

I think we're ready, lads.

But paramedic Graham Pemberton is concerned about his patient's condition.

As well as the cold, he's suffering from a deep head wound and a badly broken leg.

How are you doing, Anthony? Open your eyes.

Steve has Alzheimer's and his confusion is making the team's job harder.

Graham has tried to call in an RAF helicopter to winch his patient from the hillside where he's lying.

But it appears the terrain is too difficult, even for the military.

I got the message that the RAF are not attending. Is that right? Over.

'Confirmed.'

Mountain rescue volunteers carry their patient up the treacherous hillside.

But without an RAF Sea King to assist,

the only option left is manpower and determination.

It's quite a windy day and we're close to the wind farm.

They were worried about where they were in proximity to these massive wind farms.

It was a no-go for them, unfortunately.

This is a lonely place.

The route to safety takes them past abandoned miners' cottages,

along a path trodden out by moorland sheep.

-Can we have some ropes?

-How many do you want, Ted?

'As many as we can, just to get through this section. Over.'

The rescuers are taking no chances.

The safety ropes will prevent their patient plunging down the hillside for a second time.

Can we get two of you down there?

Steve's survival has amazed the emergency services.

But not those who know the toughness of the average fell runner.

He's a fit bloke, really. He's obviously a good fell runner.

He was sheltered there in the valley, fortunately,

and I think it was just below zero last night. Minus one, minus two.

In cases like this, there's a temptation to raise the patient's body temperature quickly.

But Graham won't be cranking up the heater on this flight.

The normal procedure with hypothermic patients is you can warm them too quickly

and send them into shock and cardiac arrest.

So in hospital, they will warm them at one degree per hour.

So if they're stable now, we don't do anything.

We just keep them stable and take them to hospital

and let the hospital deal with it.

If we put the heaters on in the helicopter and warm him too quickly,

we could make him a lot worse than he is already.

But their patient's not out of the woods yet.

Hypothermia and his head injury are a dangerous combination.

Remember the biker trapped under a car after a freak accident in West Yorkshire?

Let's find out how the operation to free him is going.

Put this back here. Behind these two.

Stuart Thornton's rescuers could be about to endanger his life.

He had been pinned under this car for half an hour.

The sudden release of its weight could lead to a cardiac arrest.

We're going to get you safe first, sir.

-Will it release me?

-Yes, it will.

Ready, steady, move.

It's the back protector, that's what it is.

At last he's out, and he has survived his release.

But it's now clear he's very badly injured.

Mind the leg. It's quite displaced off to one side.

This is the impact his head made on the first car that hit him.

And only now can Sammy examine him for broken bones.

I'm just going to cut your shirt, OK?

PATIENT CRIES OUT IN PAIN

She suspects there are many.

My mate's got your left leg, mate.

He has some serious limb injuries.

INDISTINCT

Your pain. If ten is the worst pain imaginable,

and zero is none, what number are you at?

Eleven.

Which bit hurts the most?

-Left shoulder.

-Your left shoulder.

A pain score of 11 out of 10 isn't unusual.

Morphine usually provides a temporary cure.

You're just going to feel... It might feel a little cold going in.

We're giving you morphine now.

Then we can get you more comfy on the board.

PATIENT GROANS

All right, Stu. Right at the side. We'll come this way.

Several emergency service teams have been helping Stuart.

They are focusing on one thing.

Getting him to hospital as quickly and as safely as possible.

He was breathing OK, although the weight of the car was resting on his chest.

Thankfully, the fire brigade weren't too long, so they managed to elevate the car,

get him out, then we could do a full assessment.

Under the circumstances, he should be, fingers crossed, OK.

He was obviously wearing the right protective gear.

So that's obviously helped him.

A&E staff partly measure the severity of cases

by what's known as "the mechanism of injury".

It doesn't come much worse than the accident Stuart has survived.

First, the impact with the car.

Then the road, and finally being crushed by the Fiesta.

It's not surprising that the LGI's trauma team sent him straight to surgery.

He undergoes a long and complex operation to save his leg.

His knee has to be rebuilt and several weeks later,

he is still in hospital with metalwork and pins holding his broken bones together.

The bottom half of my leg is separated from the top half

and being held together with the framework.

When the swelling goes down, we hope to rebuild the kneecap

and then we'll take it from there.

Stuart's bones are mending - and he has the itching to prove it!

But he can't remember a thing about the accident.

I've no idea. It's just...

Three months later, and Stuart has made a special request.

Hello! Pleased to meet you... Come on.

He has asked if he can come and meet the paramedic team who helped him,

to say thank you and to piece together exactly what he's been through.

-Doing well. A couple more operations to go.

-Have you?

Then it could be another 12-month healing process, but we'll get there.

The last time paramedics Sammy Wills and Al Day saw Stuart,

they were dealing with his physical injuries.

Today is about dealing with some of the emotional ones that came afterwards.

Oh, look at that.

That's the helmet. I remember when I looked back,

that's the helmet I saw.

See, I'm awake. I can't remember any of this.

-'What I'd like to do now, boss...'

-A £700 helmet, ruined!

They're so cool about it!

It's their day-to-day job.

For me, if I were to attend a scene such as mine,

I'd just flip out. "Where do we start from here?"

But they're professionals. They know what they're doing

and you've got to let them do it.

-That's what I hit with my head.

-That's why you hit that thing there.

I cut my leg.

VIDEO CONTINUES

Are you all right?

I feel so grateful, having seen the video,

of how many people attended.

The emergency services that attended.

The effort that went in to rescue me...

I just owe them so much.

I'm really grateful.

What goes up must come down.

Gravity is one of our biggest enemies.

It's responsible for thousands of injuries each year,

and it catches people out in the strangest ways!

It's the Queen's Diamond Jubilee

and Britain is putting out the flags.

It's a four-day bank holiday for most of us,

but not for the Heli-Med team.

We're on our way to a chappie who's fallen off the roof of his house,

which is never a good thing to do, I wouldn't have thought.

He's fallen quite a long way. They reckon about six metres, which is quite a substantial fall.

He's landed and banged his head. He appears to have a head injury.

In the village of Kettlethorpe, near Wakefield,

Wayne Beddoes' attempts to raise the Union flag on the roof of his house didn't go according to plan.

We've got a gentleman who's had a fall.

He's fallen about five metres from a drainpipe on the side of his house.

He's climbed up to put a flag on the drainpipe and he's fallen straight down on his right hand side.

He has a potential head injury. A lot of blood is coming from his right ear and a lot of swelling.

Wayne decided to make his patriotic ascent after a few drinks.

He has also broken his wrist and is agitated.

This could be a further sign of a very serious head injury.

-How agitated is he?

-He's not agitated enough not to fly.

But he's agitated enough to keep pulling his collar off cos he says it's uncomfortable.

The priority is to get Wayne to hospital quickly.

Wayne? Wayne, my name's Andy.

-Right.

-We're air ambulance paramedics.

We're just going to transport you, OK, to Leeds General.

You've got some blood coming out your ear. We're a bit concerned by that.

We need you to stay nice and calm and still, all right?

-Will you tell my parents?

-They're outside. We've told them.

OK?

Fortunately, the land crew have done much of the hard work.

Wayne is immobilised on a spinal stretcher.

He just needs moving to the waiting chopper.

-Ready, steady, move.

-Super.

Wayne's been on the top of his house, putting on an England flag, holding on to a drain pipe.

He's fallen approximately five metres.

He's landed heavily on his right side.

But Wayne is still in trouble.

The brain floats in a bath of liquid called CSF.

The paramedics think it may be leaking.

We're not sure if there's CSF coming from his right ear.

GCS... Not sure, no.

GCS 14 out of 15.

He's had a little bit of drink

and he's also got a right wrist fracture.

We'll be with you in about... How long, Chris, from here?

Five minutes, mate.

Wayne is being taken to the Leeds General Infirmary

which has a specialist neurosurgery unit.

If you get a leak from the ear,

generally there's a fracture in the bottom of the skull, the cranial vault.

It's where the brain sits. So it's quite concerning if there's a fractured base of skull.

As Wayne touches down on the rooftop heli-pad of the LGI,

expert staff below are gathering ready to assess his injuries.

Wayne is still conscious, but it's hard to determine whether his slurred speech

is the result of his head injury or drink.

Couple of bumps.

We're nearly down there, fella.

Paramedic Andy knows only too well that his fall could have been fatal.

But Wayne is still conscious and is now in expert hands.

-How we doing?

-Well.

We've got Wayne. He's been climbing up a drainpipe to put a flag up

and he's fallen about five to six metres.

He landed on his right side and banged his head.

Injuries from top to toe. Right side haematoma on his head.

Blood coming from his ear. Not aware if there's any CSF.

Thankfully, the head injury turns out not to be too serious.

But he still spends the Jubilee in hospital.

Flying is the most obvious way to defy gravity.

But some ways of joining the birds are safer than others.

For some, overcoming the force of gravity is all part of their sport.

The Peak District attracts paragliders and hang gliders

from right across the country.

They're all drawn to the dramatic landscape

which provides equally dramatic thermals to keep them in the air.

But the emergency services around here are often picking up the pieces

when things go wrong.

On this summer evening, they're all heading to a remote field near Hathersage

where a hang glider has been seen plummeting to the ground.

This is 99. Can you just confirm whether this person's been located and the grid's accurate?

-Over.

-'Roger. Negative.

'The patient has not been physically located as yet.'

We don't really know where this person is.

We've got a general vicinity so we might have to look around for him.

We're quite used to looking for these gliders and light aircraft.

Hopefully we shouldn't be too long finding him.

But amongst all these rolling hills and steep crags,

finding the injured pilot isn't going to be easy.

Could be anywhere round here.

What's this in the field just below us here?

Right on the nose.

Radar Heli-Med 99. We're setting down. We'll call again later.

-I thought our guy was in a tree?

-That's what I heard.

Yes, there's somebody working. Somebody's in there.

A mountain rescue doctor is already treating the injured pilot.

He's a hang glider, 40 years old.

Came in at normal hang glider speed and messed up his landing.

A is fine, B is fine, C is fine.

He has a left wrist fracture. He lost consciousness shortly after I arrived.

We saw him coming in to land. He was quite high.

He's come back round. Then I saw him get behind the hill.

Half an hour later I came back through the fields to get something out of my car

and noticed that he was obviously in a bad way.

Can we move that arm?

How you doing, Bob?

Bob? Are you OK, mate?

Bob Whitehead's only obvious injury is to his wrist.

But he's been drifting in and out of consciousness,

a strong indication of a serious head injury.

-Any pain in his hips?

-He didn't say.

-Nothing at all?

-So the only pain is his wrist. Nothing else at all?

-No.

He didn't say anything.

But even so, John's still worried about potential spinal injuries.

On my three. One, two, three.

OK. Let's get him all together. Tell me when you're ready.

No, hang on a minute. Can we just stop? Can we just stop?

We're not shuffling him anywhere. We need to slide him down and back up

because the head box can't get on, right?

So we need to go down on your call,

slide down about six inches

-and then we'll slide him back up.

-OK.

-On your call.

One, two, three.

He crashed on landing. He's got a fractured left arm.

It seems he's hit the ground at a fair old whack, coming in to land.

He somehow lost control of whatever it is. He's impacted the ground quite hard.

OK? And lower.

The doctor on scene said he was initially quite conscious

then he dropped down to unconscious then came back but is now confused.

That's obviously quite concerning.

I've rung Northern General already. We need to get him on helicopter and get going.

Keep his head up, please.

Ready, steady, lift.

So now this pilot is heading back up again.

But this time with two jet engines to keep him airborne.

In hospital, he'll undergo a full trauma scan

to discover exactly what damage he's done.

And if his days as a hang glider pilot are now over.

Luckily, his back injury is treated successfully

and he'll be able to rejoin the birdmen of the Peaks next year.

If your job involves a head for heights,

it's as well to remember that even years of experience

won't protect you if you lose your balance and trip.

Every year, nearly 3,000 workers are injured in accidents involving falls.

Today, the Heli-Med team is landing at a remote farmhouse in North Yorkshire.

-I was looking at this lone farm.

-Somebody's in the field there waving.

Ah, I see them.

Just moments ago, window fitter Andy Brown was up this ladder.

Now he's in agony, after falling face-first into the flower bed below.

He's 35 years old. No previous allergies. Not on any medication.

-He's been on that ladder. See that near the guttering?

-Yep.

He was on there and the ladder went from underneath him.

I think he's gone down on his face. He's been unconscious for three to four minutes.

He can't remember very much about it.

He was up on the ladder just mastic-ing the window.

Apparently the ladder slipped. I wasn't here. The lads were here.

He's got pain in his right trichantha area when we palpated

and he did have rotation of that foot but we've corrected that.

What's he scoring out of ten with that?

-What's your pain score now, Andy?

-Not so bad as long as I'm still.

Long as you're still. Have a gasp of Entonox cos we're going to move you a few inches, sweetheart.

Andy was on that end window, where the ladder has fallen.

It's gone and slid underneath it.

He was unconscious on the floor. We didn't move him. Just rang the ambulance straightaway.

He was shaking quite a bit.

Cos of the type of fall you've had,

and what's been described as happening to you,

-we'll take you to Leeds rather than to Harrogate.

-Right.

It's a new system that's come in. Basically, you go where all the resources are,

should you need them. We're not saying you're going to need them,

but if you do, they're there, if not they'll take you to where you need to be.

-OK?

-OK.

'I've got a 26-year-old male that's been working up a ladder.

'He's fallen approximately ten feet from the ladder.

'Believed to land face down on his head.

'Initially K-O'd for four to five minutes.'

Looks like he could have fractured his femur,

probably some pelvis and maybe some head injuries, cos he was unconscious.

I know that wrist is hurting, but can you just straighten that for me?

After such a serious fall, paramedic Pete is keen to keep an eye on Andy's blood pressure

and his racing pulse.

Heart rate's up a little bit. But if I'd fallen off a ladder, nose-dived into somebody's garden

and then had a ride in a helicopter, I think mine would be going up too!

OK. Just try and relax as much as you can for us.

-Engine control switches.

-Fine.

-Both confirmed to fly.

-Got those wires in front of us.

Yes, got the wires.

And so, just minutes after plummeting down to the ground,

Andy is now heading back upwards and off to the trauma centre in Leeds.

Doctors at the LGI find Andy's injuries are extensive but not too serious.

And he's soon fit enough to go back up his ladder.

And you don't have to be at work to become a victim of gravity.

Diving into water to cool off on a hot day can lead to serious injury or death.

It's hard to resist when the temperature soars,

but not everyone has the seaside on their doorstep.

Sadly for one swimmer who forgot to look before he leapt.

He's jumped off the top of there.

And his foot's hit the side

and all his foot's twisted round.

I can imagine the reason why it's caught him.

Cos people do get killed doing this sport.

This chappie, it sounds like he's got a leg injury,

possible chest and neck injury.

And he's got difficulty breathing.

So that's why we're en-route.

-Right. I can see the quarry and I can see the water.

-Yep.

-Oh, that is quite steep actually.

-Yeah, it is.

But dusty quarries are difficult places to land a three-tonne helicopter.

The sand can cause a dust cloud which stops the pilot being able to see.

I wish he'd go to the right, so we have a marker.

-No messing about here, guys. Lots of sand.

-Okey-dokes.

Look at that!

-Beautiful.

-You don't mess about with that kind of stuff.

But once the dust clears, paramedic Andy Armitage

is able to discover the bizarre story of what's just happened.

-This is Nigel.

-Hiya, Nigel.

-He's 30 years old.

He's banged his leg as he's gone down. He's not lost consciousness.

He swam out of it. They tried to carry him but the pain was too much.

He's got... It is an open fracture but a slight open fracture.

-Quite swollen.

-We tried carrying him, but he were in too much pain.

We got him from there, right.

-It were a right mission, wasn't it?

-Yeah.

I just want to make sure you've not down owt to your neck or back.

We're going to put you on that board.

It was certainly an ambitious jump.

Pilot Steve Waudby can hardly believe what he's hearing.

He hit the side and then tumbled down?

It's raving mad, if you ask me.

He jumped off the top, where the pipes are,

all the way down. There's water pumps submerged

so you can't see them anyway.

It looks as though he's hit halfway down, tumbled,

fallen into the water, broken his leg.

Then his mates have had to help him swim to the side.

And he's just been washing his foot in this filthy water with an open fracture!

While Nigel is prepared for his flight to surgery,

the police are interested in catching up with his mates.

They're keen to know exactly why they were here

and how he picked up such a nasty injury.

He's got a fracture to his left ankle

which is open.

He's jumped into this quarry, which is dirty, so it's open to infection.

It'll need a bit of cleaning up.

Orthopaedics will need to look at that.

With a departing sandstorm,

Nigel's on his way to have his broken leg pinned together

with the promise that his cliff-diving days are over.

I'm pleased to say all our patients are recovering from their brush with gravity.

But what about the fell runner who spent a bitterly cold night out on the Peaks?

Let's catch up on his case.

Heli-Med 99 has just taken off from a hilltop above Rochdale,

carrying a man who should not be alive.

Steve Iggulden fell down a rock face and broke his leg 24 hours ago.

He was so difficult to find. They were out all night looking for him.

Now, after a night in temperatures of minus two,

the team have started the long process of heating him up in mid-air.

Manchester's Wythenshawe Hospital is just ten minutes' flying time.

Specialists are waiting to examine him.

The fact that he runs every day across the moors has kept him alive.

Cos he's so fit, it's kept him alive through the night.

If it had been a more frail person of his age,

I don't think it would be the same outcome.

Their patient's family feared he was lying dead out on the moors.

Now his relieved wife and daughter are on the way to the hospital by road.

And his survival is already making headlines.

NEWS: 'A man who went missing from his home near Ramsbottom on Sunday

'has been found by Rossendale and Pendle Mountain Rescue team.

'He'd fallen down a 70-feet drop and suffered a fractured skull and punctured lung.'

Slowly, doctors raise Steve's body temperature to normal levels

and he responds well.

A month later and he's been moved to North Manchester General Hospital.

His leg was badly broken in the fall and he's still in a wheelchair.

But otherwise, he's making a good recovery.

-I brought us some tea.

-Oh, good.

Steve has cheated death by the narrowest of margins.

But while his body is super-fit,

as an Alzheimer's sufferer, mentally he is still confused.

-That's nice.

-Is that nice?

-It's good.

His onset of Alzheimer's has been very, very gradual.

And he's remained very fit,

physically fit and well throughout.

He does have disabilities from it,

but one of his main joys has been to run, swim, go to the gym.

He really loves the outdoors.

It's always been, for the last two or three years,

um...

..a difficult risk to take.

Because he's not frail. He's very active, very energetic.

So I've tried to always keep an eye on him in strange places,

when we're away.

But he has, up till now, been safe.

For Helen, the 23 hours she spent waiting for news of her husband

as mountain rescue teams combed the moors,

will not be easily forgotten.

But as the evening drew in, she became increasingly concerned.

A very good friend of mine came and sat with me.

We must have had about 20 cups of tea.

I kept thinking, "God, this is a horrible nightmare. I wish I'd wake up."

It really, I thought, "This is so awful, it just can't possibly be true.

"I must be having a really bad dream."

Steve and his legendary fitness are well known to many of his rescuers.

While the odds were against him surviving that night,

some of the searchers were optimistic he'd be found alive.

The first thing he said to me was, "I'm sorry."

So he was aware the whole time, even though he had a head injury,

he'd been aware through the night.

He said to me later, he'd thought he was a gonner.

And there was no point in shouting because there was nobody around and it was pitch black.

He does remember the fall,

but I haven't probed him about it.

Cos probably it's better that we just sort of think,

"That was a horrible experience. We don't want to go on and on re-experiencing it."

Steve's injuries from the fall will heal.

For his family, there are still tough times ahead,

but they can take comfort in the fact that he is a survivor. He will not give up without a fight.

You won't be surprised to hear that Anthony isn't planning on hanging up his running shoes just yet.

He intends to get back out on the fells as soon as his leg is healed.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd