After the first of two Fort Carson UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters landed cat-softly on the rooftop helipad at UCHealth Memorial Hospital on Monday, an instructor pilot from the Army post beamed with pride.
“That looked beautiful,’’ said Chief Warrant Officer Kenneth Lett, an instructor pilot who helps train Army pilots to medically evacuate wounded soldiers.
The unique training gave Fort Carson pilots a chance to experience what it’s like to land the 59-foot-long helicopter on a 58-by-58-foot pad on top of a hospital. The hardest part, Lett said, is that the pilot can’t see the back of the aircraft and must rely on a crew chief and medic to ensure that the aircraft lands squarely on the pad.
“It gets us into the habit, so the adrenalin level (in a real emergency) is a lot lower and everything is a lot calmer,’’ said Lett, who served two tours in Iraq and one in Afghanistan. “If and when we need to drop patients off at Memorial, it’s as seamless and as smooth as possible.’’
Fort Carson’s choppers landed on the same helipad used by Memorial Star Transport, a smaller aircraft, which transports critically ill or injured patients to Memorial’s emergency and trauma teams.
“It’s a unique thing to do for an aircraft of this size,’’ said Lett. “Most of all, we want the crew to know what it feels like to land on a rooftop helipad.’’
The pilots are part of the 2nd General Support Aviation Battalion, 4th Combat Aviation Brigade.