18 October 2021
The UK’s Civil Air Support (CAS) has released an account of its latest express delivery of blood stem cells from a donor in Salisbury District Hospital to a waiting patient in Newcastle upon Tyne.
CAS worked with SERV, part of a national network of motorcycle couriers known as Blood Bikes specialising in medical transfers.
SERV Wessex collected the stem cells from Salisbury Hospital and as the rider made his way to Thruxton Airfield, a Cessna 414 twin flown by CAS operations manager Graham Mountford headed from its Turweston base to Thruxton.
Handover completed, Graham flew to Newcastle International Airport in 1 hour and 47 minutes where he was met by a member of the Northumbria Blood Bikes. The stem cell package was whisked through Newcastle Airport and arrived at the Royal Victoria Infirmary within 14 minutes.
Bllod Biker meets Cessna twin at Newcastle to pick up the stem cell package. Photo: Civil Air Support
A spokesperson for Serv Wessex said, “CAS are the Blood Bikes of the air. Together, something that might take 6/7 hours to get across the country can be done in half the time.”
CAS thanked Gordon Harvey and the Thruxton Aerodrome team who not only figured out how to park an aircraft larger than their parking bays but also waived all fees.
During a busy week for the partnership between Blood Bikes and CAS, the previous day another urgent FMT (Faecal Microbiome Transplant) package had been relayed from the University of Birmingham Microbiome Treatment Centre to a Bournemouth hospital where a patient was awaiting treatment.
2 comments
Which shows the importance of GA airfields. Why cut a valuable, life saving service so that property developers can fill their pockets with the revenue from yet another housing estate.
Well said, Jane. When will they realise small airfields are as important to our infrastructure as, say, railway stations ?