Interview: Safe landings save lives
Jon Adams talks to Graham Coates, Landing Site Manager for Devon Air Ambulance Trust, who explains why his role was created, how he fits into it, and the safety improvements that enhance operations across the southwest of England
What made you join the Devon Air Ambulance Trust (DAAT)?
It was a chance to join a well-respected Devon-based charity in a role that encouraged development and trying new ideas as part of the retail management team. The role allowed commercial development within charity retail, knowing that the profit you’re making is going towards something so life-affirming and important to the people of Devon – very few retail jobs allowed me to feel quite as much job satisfaction.
How did you transition from your previous role into the newly created Landing Site Manager position?
Research, lots of online articles and asking lots of questions!
I was fortunate in that the flight operations team are a very friendly bunch, which enabled me to seek clarification if I needed it, and to also question ‘why’ on certain processes and to then look to adjust those processes if needed. I was encouraged to try new things and look for change, which meant, as a new role, it was less daunting due to putting my own mark on it relatively quickly. Plus, of course, I was still working for DAAT; all the old networks and support I had relied on previously still existed!
What are the main responsibilities of a landing site manager?
We have over 200 community night landing sites (CLSs) across Devon, as well as four hospitals with helipads and another three hospitals out of area that we regularly fly to; my responsibility is to ensure the continued safe management of those CLSs and to engage with the National Health Service (NHS) and the local hospitals to ensure the hospital helipads remain class 1 compliant and that we’re able to land.
This includes yearly surveys, weekly service status reports for the crew and helicopter emergency medical services (HEMS) desk to use, engaging with the local communities, and representing DAAT at our local hospitals with their helipad teams.
Why was it important for DAAT to have a dedicated landing site manager and how has it improved the organization’s operations and safety?
There are two elements to this answer. The first is very simple in that we have 200 CLSs, all of which require ongoing engagement with the local communities, a yearly survey of each site, and to ensure that the management of those sites and data storage works best for the pilots – a dedicated person to manage this, as well as liaise with the local hospitals, makes a lot of sense!
There has clearly been a step towards individual operators taking more responsibility and engaging with their local NHS trusts regularly
The second element to this answer is that, since the Derriford accident and subsequent Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) report, there has clearly been a step towards individual operators taking more responsibility and engaging with their local NHS trusts regularly, to share approach paths and safety knowledge with the hospital to help them manage their helipads in the best way possible. DAAT has always been a very forward-thinking organization and the Landing Site Manager position allowed DAAT to respond to the Derriford AAIB report in a timely and appropriate manner, as well as incorporating our existing CLS responsibilities.
It also means that I work closely with our Air Safety Manager and that any CLS / hospital landing site (HLS) safety incidents that are reported are investigated by me and are fed back directly to our Safety Committee for any necessary action.
What’s the greatest challenge you’ve faced in your role?
Initially I thought it would be the 200 CLSs that would be the greatest challenge – there are 200 of them after all! However, helping to support and engage the local hospitals to ensure class 1 compliance at their helipads, such as explaining elements of the Civil Aviation Authority’s (CAA’s) CAP1264 standards for helicopter landing areas at hospitals, and ensuring they have suitable management of 30m and 50m downwash zones for example, has been a far greater challenge, even if I’m technically only dealing with four sites!
Who are the other stakeholders in landing sites that DAAT uses, and how do you go about influencing change?
There are two key groups of stakeholders for CLSs/HLSs: internal and external. The internal stakeholders are pilots and crew. It’s my job to ensure they have all the information they need to land in a simple format they can access wherever they are. We’ve recently been through a large-scale change process as we redesigned the plates for each CLS to bring them more in line with the HLS plates, and then reissued those plates. A simple change process required a step change in how the crew interpreted the data on the plates, and to influence this, we incorporated their feedback. We had all the engagement and feedback we needed to make the changes, which meant it was a simple process to get everyone onboard!
It’s my job to ensure they have all the information they need to land in a simple format they can access wherever they are
The external stakeholders for the CLSs/HLSs are the communities who support DAAT with each CLS, and the NHS staff whose role it is to ensure the safe management of the HLSs.
We’ve also been through a big change process recently with our decision to enable the pilots to land at CLSs without using the onsite lights. This is a huge operational change, albeit a simple one from a crew point of view, but from a community point of view we’ve had to reassure that six years’ worth of new sites with lighting is still a valuable and necessary process to have been through, even if we now no longer mandate that we use the lights.
We’ve had to reach out to all communities via email, phone calls and attending meetings, to reassure them that we are still going to use their CLS and to also thank them for enabling us to get to this point in time. The people of Devon have been so supportive of DAAT across all its functions (retail, fundraising, events) and this includes our community landing site project –without their support we’d never have reached 200! Once we’ve explained the evidence for the operational change and reassured them that effectively from their point of view very little will change, most communities understood and accepted this easily.
Have you seen other air ambulance/HEMS operators (local and abroad) making use of a landing site manager and what advice would you give to them if they were currently without one?
I’m not aware of other specific landing site managers within other local air ambulances or HEMS operators, which is I suspect because most other operators do not have 200 CLSs in their areas. However, as part of my role, I am the Grounds Operations Post Holder for DAAT’s aircraft on ground (AOC) and all other operators will have this role in some format or another, which is likely to include an oversight of landing sites.
The key advantage to having a Landing Site Manager in the post-Derriford world is that I am the dedicated person for the NHS to reach out to and engage with across Devon. We’re able to share our knowledge and skill set to improve helipad operations and safety across the county, and further afield at times. Not every operator will need a landing site manager if they do not utilize 200 CLSs, but every operator should have someone able to engage with their local hospitals as it’s this engagement that helps drive improvements and ultimately helps to make the HLS more efficient and safer for everyone.
What future projects are upcoming for DAAT landing sites and can you see any other industry changes that will help air ambulance / HEMS operators?
We are currently working on a new piece of software to aid nighttime ad hoc landings to provide greater situational awareness for the pilots and crew when they are tasked
We are currently working on a new piece of software to aid nighttime ad hoc landings to provide greater situational awareness for the pilots and crew when they are tasked. The software should enable them to have as much relevant information as they need to select a suitable landing site at night, within as quick a time as possible.
I think industry change will be driven in response to the Derriford AAIB report and some of the recommendations, which are directly being picked up by NHS England and, more pertinently for operators, the CAA. These recommendations will drive how operators engage with hospitals, how new technology and software is used to share data and to ultimately ensure that HLSs become and remain safe operating pads.
I think also there will be increased awareness within commercial sectors that HEMS operators live in a world that perhaps could benefit from other technologies being used elsewhere in aviation. Simple changes to software utilized by police helicopters, for example, might have a benefit for HEMS operators that no one has fully realized before now through not asking the right questions.
As tragic as the Derriford accident was, if it brings about increased downwash awareness within the NHS and improved safety measures, as well as enhanced operational abilities and situational awareness for operators, at least something positive is coming out of something so tragic.