A Delaware Air National Guard aeromedical evacuation team was key to the in-flight emergency medical care provided to 11 soldiers injured in the crash of their C-47 Chinook helicopter in Afghanistan Feb. 18, reports the Philadelphia Inquirer. The five-member ANG team, along with a three-member critical-care air-transport team, worked aboard a C-17 airlifter outfitted with an airborne emergency room/intensive care unit for seven and a half hours on the flight from Bagram Air Base to Germany. “The medical condition of a couple of the patients even improved in the air,” said TSgt. Doug Stevens, a Delaware ANG medical technician.
As Air Force leaders consider concepts of operations for Collaborative Combat Aircraft, sustainment in the field—and easing that support by using standard parts and limiting variants—should be a key consideration, according to a new study from AFA's Mitchell Institute of Aerospace Studies.