Specialist Equipment
The Flight Simulator, based at the Westpac Waikato Air Ambulance hangar facility
at Waikato Hospital is used on a regular basis to train
and remain current in instrument flying techniques, emergency
procedures and night operations. The simulator allows them
to train much more realistically than what is possible in
a real aircraft.
The
moving map GPS has embedded terrain information which is reinforced with a Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning
System (EGPWS). This equipment ‘looks ahead’
and predicts potential conflict with terrain.
TPAS looks at surrounding aircraft that are fitted with
a transponder and calculates the distance and altitude relative
to the operator. An aural and visual alert is given to the
pilot when there is a potential conflict with surrounding
traffic.
The aircraft is fitted with an autopilot (to reduce
the pilots’ workload at night and during busy periods),
a cell phone, Marine / Forestry / Civil Defence radio, Police
and Ambulance radios.
The direction
finder is used to track aircraft/marine and personal locator
beacons.
Enabling the helicopter crew to lift patients or crew in and out of difficult terrain.
A computer-based satellite aircraft tracking system.
The Trust has a web based operations manual along with a
database of routes, airports and heliports. This enables
pilots to access vital information from anywhere
there is a computer with an Internet connection or using
cell phones with data ability.
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