SALINAS, Calif- They come to your rescue, in the most dangerous of situations. Now a brand new state-of-the-art helicopter is on its way to Salinas. But you're not footing the bill. It's a Central Coast News exclusive, taking you up in the air and behind the scenes with a local CALSTAR flight crew.
We found out how all of us will be safer in an emergency with this new equipment. In the hub of the newsroom, we can listen to the scanners and hear those emergency calls. But it's not always easy for flight crews. Often we hear a crew can't land at the scene of a bad car accident because it's too foggy. But we found out new technology is making it easier for CALSTAR to get there when you need them.
Flight crews said they always hope to be the best part of your worst day.
"From the Salinas area its give or take 23 to 24 minutes," said CALSTAR 2 flight nurse Seth Rae.
Last weekend, CALSTAR came to the rescue of a female driver in Seaside, with critical injuries. CHP officers said she drove head-on, at full speed into a parked tow truck on the side of the road.
"The primary patient will go here on our main loader," Rae said.
So we went 2,500 feet in the air with CALSTAR 2, a Gilroy-based crew, that's already using the new aircraft and to find out how it's working for them.
"We can get to places where we were not able to get to a few years back," said CALSTAR 2 pilot Bill Bates.
By using special GPS technology, crews said fog or bad weather is less of an issue.
"It allows us to use lower visibility, lower ceiling than the average VFR pilot does," Bates said.
The new aircraft worth is more than $6.5 million dollars and it allows flight crews to do things they've never been able to do before. They even have night vision goggles, allowing them to see anywhere in the dark.
Since CALSTAR is a non-profit, the new equipment is funded mostly through the company's general fund, typically through insurance payments from previous flights. But it's a cost they eat sometimes. CALSTAR said last year it lost out on about $60 million dollars worth of unfunded service, covered through it's hardship program, when customers weren't able to pay.
"A fire department, an ambulance, the police department, will activate us and some EMS agency determines there's a need, then they'll call our dispatch," Bates said.
They also have new technology on flight, allowing them to possibly save your life in a critical situation.
"Has the capability of monitoring heart rate, blood pressure, oxygen saturation. We have those same capabilities here on the aircraft and that affords us to continue that patient's care if not improve upon it," Rae said.
Another reason why this new technology is so important is because the closest trauma center to the Central Coast is in San Jose. If you need to be flown out, with this aircraft you're getting the best care in flight.
CALSTAR said flight crews in Salinas should be getting their new aircraft by the end of 2014.
