RAF air crew in heart mercy dash

A heart has been flown by an RAF crew in a mercy dash between Belfast and London's Great Ormond Street Hospital for an emergency operation.
A Hercules aircraft transported four surgeons plus equipment to RAF Aldergrove to prepare and collect the heart to bring it back to London.

Air traffic control gave the Hercules C130J a clear run into Heathrow airport to help speed up the operation.

The air crew members said they had been happy to assist in the mission.


Flight Lieutenant Paul Flusk, the co-pilot, said: "It feels good to do a job that can help to save someone's life."

He and his air crew left RAF Lyneham within 40 minutes of receiving the request from Great Ormond Street.

They collected the heart at RAF Aldergrove at about 1130 BST on Thursday.

This is something Im sure we all dont mind paying for out our taxes

 

A heartwarming tale indeed, I hope and pray the surgery was a success. A bit of a shame though that we have to rely on the goodwill and availability of the RAF for assistance; with transplant organs being as rare as hens teeth I would have hoped that the NHS would have rapid response logistics already in place for this kind of scenario, after all it's not as if Belfast is the back of beyond is it? Still, mission accomplished and a drink well earned for the Herc crew.

 

The time at which the heart became available may have been the factor which called for the RAF to do the job.