US Air Force Blows Up Addenbrooke's Hospital .... helipad

Up up and away !

TextMaj Keavy Rake, of the USAF's 48th Fighter Wing, said: "The area was surveyed according to our policies and procedures and some damage did occur.

Some damage ? , Maj Rake is a master of understatement.
I would suggest that looking at something then saying "Yep , that'll be alright" is not really a survey.

"The next closest helipad is at Cambridge City Airport, where one of the East Anglian Air Ambulance (EAAA) teams is based.

"It will be possible for the EAAA helipad to be used as an alternative landing site during this time and have patients transferred to Addenbrooke's from there by land ambulance, with critical care staff on board."
news.sky.com... -12284283

Question is , who approved this bloody stupid stunt.

a reply to: gortex

Weird, weird, weird aircraft.

I get to watch them fly a lot. Just ain't natural I tell you. 'Specially when they transition.

LOL
Some Damage


I would hate to see what his definition of "destroyed" looked like.

Apparently this "temporary" helipad has been in place for ten YEARS. Anyone who built a helipad out of astro turf has to have their head examined in the first place. It's not a damn golf course.

One poorly made helipad, it's not secured to the ground with spikes.

a reply to: gortex

Who builds helipads out of woven mats with a little tar on top?
Osprey is awesome.

a reply to: Echo007

Yet it seems to have survived air ambulance aircraft well enough so not that poorly made.

a reply to: gortex

The helipad that was in use was only designed for temporary use. It isn't supposed to still be in use 10 years later, because no one could be bothered to fund a permanent one. The pad looks like a Faun Trackway mat. That mat has been used for AV-8B, and V-22s in the field. It looks like it wasn't secured properly, and no one caught it when they did the survey.

a reply to: Peeple

Yanks blow our helipad to bits and it's our fault ... typical !

originally posted by: gortex
a reply to: Peeple

Yanks blow our helipad to bits and it's our fault ... typical !

LOL it looked like you could roll the mats back out and attach them properly to the ground and you are back in business. Not to mention there is loads of space to roll out another half-ass mat and spike it down. I guessing that was the girls' gymnastic mat/helicopter landing pad combo.

a reply to: gortex

Well at least I didn't make jokes about Brits and engineering. You're welcome

a reply to: Zaphod58

Isn't Faun aluminium? This looks like rubber no?

This is what happens when you buy your helipads from Wish...
2nd line..

'Some damage'..... LMAO.

Looks like they made the thing out of corrugated cardboard.

a reply to: gortex

Ohhhh, BLOWS
got me on that one.


A roll out helipad... what could go wrong?
Exhibit A:
Exhibit B:
Exhibit C:

a reply to: Peeple

This one may not be Faun specifically, but it's the same thing as the Faun landing areas. Faun was just the closest that I could find to match to it, with a fairly cursory search. There are several out there that use proprietary materials, similar to rubber, to make them lightweight.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Well, you seem to have given a much better survey in the 27 minutes since the OP than the USAF managed before the mission, which makes me wonder what surveying they did.

Maybe Addenbrookes actually wanted the pad destroyed, to get funding for a new one?

Ospreys seem to be busy in the UK recently.

Is there some reason they can't land on dirt or turf?

originally posted by: gortex
a reply to: Peeple

Yanks blow our helipad to bits and it's our fault ... typical !

You set me off!
Laughed all the way through the rest of the comments...... now I have to go pee before anyone posts any more hilarities!

S&F for the laughs!

Rainbows
Jane

a reply to: Blaine91555

Dirt is a safety concern. They kick up enough dirt to cause a brownout for the pilots, and can actually clog the engine. A Marine MV-22 crashed in Hawaii because of that. They have a system in the front of the engine that is supposed to keep dirt and dust from getting into the engine itself, but "it sucks" doesn't really do it justice. They had 8 power loss events between 2008 and 2015 because of a failure of that system.