Community members are invited to meet the Classic Air Medical crew and check out the helicopter 4-7 p.m. Saturday at Overlook Park. Photo by Carol A. Clark/ladailypost.comCommunity members are invited to stop over and check out the state of the art helicopter and visit with the flight crew from about 4-7 p.m., Saturday on the south park.
Classic Air Medical Base Manager/Lead Pilot Geoff Rodgers
Former Los Alamos County Councilor Geoff Rodgers is the base manager and lead pilot for the emergency medical helicopter stationed in town by Classic Air Medical. He has been piloting aircraft professionally and privately for three decades.
Rodgers, who will be flying the helicopter above Overlook Park Saturday has logged nearly 4,000 hours during his flying career, which began in 1984 when he graduated from the U.S. Army Flight School in Ft. Rucker, Ala. He flew Army helicopters on active duty for five years and another eight years in the U.S. Army Reserves. As a civilian, Rodgers has flown for EMS, firefighting and power line construction operations.
The Bell 407GX is the newest model Bell Helicopter makes and has a full cardiac monitoring system on board. It also carries vital drugs above and beyond what a typical ambulance carries including some that no one else in the state carries such as TXA to help stop bleeding in trauma patients.
Classic Air Medical began local operations Jan. 6 and to date has transported dozens of patients from Los Alamos, Santa Fe, Taos and Rio Arriba County, Rodgers said.
Flights occur day or night and the pilots use night vision goggles, which Rodgers said allows them to transport patients on the darkest of nights.
The Bell 407GX can get a patient from Los Alamos Medical Center to UNM Hospital in Albuquerque in 25 minutes.
Check out the state of the art glass cockpit 4-7 p.m. Saturday at Overlook Park. Photo by Carol A. Clark/ladailypost.com
The Classic Air Medical crew performs three missions:
- Inter-facility Transfer Hospital to Hospital;
- On Scene Emergency Calls; and
- Search and Rescue.
