Flying Blood

[iwork4911]

Our squadron has been asked to fly blood, if needed, to and/or from our local hospital due to the unreliability of the only commercial carrier in the area.

The question came up in our squadron discussion as to whether or not this would require the CAP pilot to be commercially rated?

Thoughts?

[Flying Pig]

Nothing we do in CAP "requires" us to be commercially rated.  It would be no different than any other organ transport mission that CAP does on occasion.  However, when transporting organs or blood, when you have a body on the other end waiting for its arrival, your highest qualified crew should be the ones chosen. 

[iwork4911]

Flying Pig, thanks for your information.


One comment that was made was that if the hospital reimburses the CAP for the cost of transporting the blood, then a commercial license would be needed.

I have not heard this myself so I wanted to put this out to others for input.

[RiverAux]

I haven't reviewed that particular regulation lately, but it seems to be pretty specific about certain situations that might require these qualifications. 

[ßτε]

You might find your answer here: http://capmembers.com/media/cms/FAR_EXEMPTIONS_FOR_CAP_AIRCRAFT_OPE_CDAB0D431F658.pdf

[SJFedor]

Our squadron has been asked to fly blood, if needed, to and/or from our local hospital due to the unreliability of the only commercial carrier in the area.

The question came up in our squadron discussion as to whether or not this would require the CAP pilot to be commercially rated?

Thoughts?

First, stop.

Second, refer whomever you're speaking with at the hospital about this matter to your Wing Director of Operations, who in turn needs to be talking with the Wing King about this. Squadrons do not enter into agreements with any entity, especially when there's exchange of services or money involved.

[Flying Pig]

Our squadron has been asked to fly blood, if needed, to and/or from our local hospital due to the unreliability of the only commercial carrier in the area.

The question came up in our squadron discussion as to whether or not this would require the CAP pilot to be commercially rated?

Thoughts?

First, stop.

Second, refer whomever you're speaking with at the hospital about this matter to your Wing Director of Operations, who in turn needs to be talking with the Wing King about this. Squadrons do not enter into agreements with any entity, especially when there's exchange of services or money involved.

Thats a good point.  Yes, make sure this isnt something your squadron is entering into yourselves.  It should be your WING doing this.  Not an individual squadron on their own.  Meaning, if it needs to be done, it may not always be your squadron who does it.

Something else also, by that flow chart "bte" put out, transporting non-cap property for reimbursement looks like it requires a Commercial.  If its done by a Private Pilot, then the pilot either has to pay the pro-rata share or cannot log the flight time, since the FAA considers logging the time to be compensation.  So now that I look into it more, I retract my statement from earlier.  You would need a Commercial rating to do the flight.  Or, just dont log the time.

But the first thing you need to make sure is that this is a wing deal, and not something your Sq entered into on their own.  Great initiative on your part, so dont screw it up!!!

[iwork4911]

Thanks for the replies, all of them.

Just to clarify, our squadron hasn't entered into any formal agreement to transport their blood, we were approached regarding the possibility of doing it.  Apparently blood isn't considered "high priority" freight so if the planes are at max weight, the blood gets pushed to the side until more room is available on a later flight. I am told that this is acceptable at times, but when it is urgent they obviously can't wait for a few hours for the next flight.

I have to be honest, I have never flown tissue/blood so this is new territory for me and our squadron.  If the hospital puts in a request for a blood run (please, no Twilight references) who pays for this? Will the AF cover this as a mission or will the hospital pick up that bill?

Again, thanks for all of your replies. 

[SJFedor]

Thanks for the replies, all of them.

Just to clarify, our squadron hasn't entered into any formal agreement to transport their blood, we were approached regarding the possibility of doing it.  Apparently blood isn't considered "high priority" freight so if the planes are at max weight, the blood gets pushed to the side until more room is available on a later flight. I am told that this is acceptable at times, but when it is urgent they obviously can't wait for a few hours for the next flight.

I have to be honest, I have never flown tissue/blood so this is new territory for me and our squadron.  If the hospital puts in a request for a blood run (please, no Twilight references) who pays for this? Will the AF cover this as a mission or will the hospital pick up that bill?

Again, thanks for all of your replies.

And this is why Wing needs to handle it, because it eventually has to go through National at the NOC to figure out who's paying for what. Unless the Wing Commander authorizes it as a C-911 mission in the event of local emergency, we don't fly until we know who's picking up the tab.

Your Wing will need to enter into a memorandum of understanding for this mission with the agency involved. We do have MOU's already in place with the Red Cross for blood product transport in times of crisis (B-8). But if it's the hospital that's the requesting agency, then the hospital is going to be the one paying for it, not the AF. It would most likely be a C-14 corporate mission w/ the hospital getting the bill.

Again, these kinda things are worked out at echelons beyond reality, and before you guys start even entertaining the customer's ideas, it's best to get people involved who are the decision-makers. Eventually, if this was ever to get set up, the hospital would make the request for assets to the NOC directly, who would make sure everything is in place, generate mission numbers, and alert the Wing, and down the chain it would come. Understand that if you did this, it may not be just your squadron playing in this game.

[RiverAux]

An MOU is not actually necessary, though it probably wouldn't hurt.

However, if they can't wait a few hours for the next scheduled flight, the chances of a CAP mission being approved within that timeframe and a crew put together may not be much better.  Even with an MOU they're almost certainly going to have to go through the NOC to get each mission approved anyway.  Sure, CAP might be able to pull it together within 2 hours (we should be able to, but since these have extra requirements beyond just a regular mission pilot, pilot availability may be a serious problem), but at that point it may just be easier for them to wait.  Now, if they have to wait 6 hours for the next scheduled flight, then CAP will probably be a good option. 

[RADIOMAN015]

I would think that if there was an area disaster that required significant blood supplies being flown in than perhaps this would be possible.

However, for the typical I'm out of stock or I didn't stock, that's why there's commercial air courier service that is available.  CAP should not be competing with commercial aircraft courier service.   BTW that also applies to ground transportation, there are high priority commercial ground courier services available.

Of course many hospitals have funding challenges, so they are going to try to get as much free, volunteer service from others as possible.

RM   

[RiverAux]

CAP should not be competing with commercial aircraft courier service.   

That question has already been decided.