Keeping paramedics, doctors, nurses, and police officers safe when conducting airborne rescues, retrievals or law enforcement is essential to Sam Wyld, Babcock’s Check and Training Aircrew Officer, Contract Manager SA.
Based at Babcock’s hangar at Adelaide Airport, Sam provides the specialist technical crew training necessary for the personnel of the South Australian State Rescue Helicopter Service (SRHS) to do their jobs safely from the back of Babcock’s fleet of specially configured rotary wing aircraft.
“On any given day we are working with South Australia Ambulance Service Rescue Paramedics, MedSTAR Retrieval Nurses and Doctors, South Australia Police Tactical Flight Officers, and Special Task and Rescue Group members,” Sam said.
“These people are all highly trained and capable in what they do. My role is to provide the aircraft task specific and emergency training, allowing them to conduct safe, effective and efficient services to the community.
“We train rescue paramedics to conduct down-the-wire land, water, and vessel winch rescue operations in the performance of their medical duties.
“We have scheduled periods of training for the various groups, organisations and skill sets throughout the year, to ensure everyone is compliant with Babcock’s stringent safety requirements and meet Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) regulations.
“We’re also efficient in our scheduling to reduce the impact to client staff resourcing, ensuring they are available to respond when a member of the community needs assistance.”
Sam said Babcock’s training for emergency services, law enforcement, and government agencies is structured around years of collective experience and a wealth of knowledge of Technical Crew training.
“Each year, Babcock manages and delivers currency training and checking, which ensures skills and qualifications are up to date, for over 150 SRHS client staff, in a variety of roles,” he said.
“Our documented training syllabus allows for redundancy if local training staff are unavailable, with national coverage provided by Babcock staff.
“We are one of the largest search and rescue, aeromedical, and law enforcement operators in Australia’s civilian aviation sector, which brings a mix of operations and a blend of different aviation backgrounds of our people.”
In addition to training, Sam’s role sees him conduct a range of tasks at short notice when the safety of the community is at risk.
“My role is varied and dynamic, whether it’s assisting the Aircraft Captain getting to and from a task location, operating the rescue hoist, directing the aircraft into a confined area landing, assisting medical staff at the scene, or conducting airborne law enforcement, tactical insertion and police search and rescue operations.
“Safety and effective use of the aircraft to transport sick, injured or stranded people is our priority. Any task in poor weather can be challenging but with robust procedures and risk assessments, collectively we can provide an option to the community.”
“It is immensely rewarding to work in a small group of professionals, all with vastly different roles and responsibilities and working with multiple agencies, to achieve a collective outcome; getting people the help they need, when they need it.”