From RCIPS

During the afternoon of Thursday, 29 August, the RCIPS Air Operations Unit was requested by the Cayman Islands Airports Authority to assist in conveying equipment and aircraft engineers to Cayman Brac in response to an incident involving a private aircraft at the Charles Kirkconnell International Airport.   With the runway closed, the helicopter was the only option to expedite the removal of the plane and resume operations at the airport. 

The flight was completed successfully at 5:00PM with two engineers and equipment transported directly to the airport.

Whilst en-route, a request for an urgent medical evacuation was received from Faith Hospital.  Immediately on disembarking the engineers and equipment at the airport, the helicopter crew moved over to the Faith Hospital Helipad, rerolled the helicopter for medical transfer, and picked up the patient and medic. The helicopter landed on the Smith Road cricket pitch and the patient was transferred to an ambulance for the short trip to the Cayman Islands Hospital and continued treatment.

“These tasks have demonstrated the flexibility a helicopter brings, in both speed and diversity of operations.  The H145 has expanded our operational capacity with greatly increased payload and performance, and has exceeded our expectations” commented Steve Fitzgerald, Air Operations Unit commander.

In the past seven days, the diverse operations of the unit have also included a search and rescue 90 miles off shore, working with multiple units on Sunday’s drug interdiction, and three medevacs, as well as general response to police incidents.