Please comment on helicopter test flights
Posted by: admin in Uncategorized, tags: Health Care Facilities, Uncategorized
Dear Neighbors,
This email contains updated information regarding the window of time for the test (depending on the weather) and also regarding hovering.
As you know, UCSF has been seeking community feedback on site planning and exterior design for the new UCSF Mission Bay children’s, women’s, and cancer hospital complex to be built on the site just south of the existing UCSF research campus (bounded by Mariposa, 16th, 3rd, and Owens).
In response to community feedback, the proposed helipad has been relocated to 16th street , the northernmost point of the hospital site. In addition, UCSF will be conducting a helicopter test flight:
Sunday, October 21, 2007 beginning at 8:30 a.m. (or as late as 12:00 p.m. depending on weather conditions )
We expect the test to last about 15-20 minutes. If it appears that the test will not take place at 8:30 due to weather conditions, I will keep you posted on email that morning.
Three proposed flight paths will be flown (see attached “Flight Paths”) provided wind conditions allow:
- Primary flight path: Helicopter arrives from east, descends to a height of 140 feet above ground; hovers for approximately 5 seconds; ascends and departs to east.
- Alternative flight path: Helicopter arrives from east, descends to a height of 140 feet above ground; hovers for approximately 5 seconds; ascends and departs to west before turning north and then east.
- Secondary flight path: Helicopter arrives from east, descends to a height of 140 feet above ground; hovers for approximately 5 seconds; ascends and departs to west to Highway 101 before heading to the east.
For your information, 140 feet is the estimated height of the proposed helipad.
In addition, a neighbor who lives near the hospital site has volunteered to ride in the helicopter to observe. Therefore, before the test, the helicopter will arrive from the east and land on the ground at the hospital site to pick up the neighbor. At the end of the test, the helicopter will arrive, hover for about 10 seconds at about 5-10 feet above ground, and land again to drop the neighbor off. Please see attached “Landing Location.”
Our noise consultants are installing noise monitoring equipment at several locations and will be measuring noise levels during the test. They will also be collecting noise data in the days leading up to the test. Please see the attached “Noise Measurement Locations” showing the proposed noise monitoring locations.
Thanks
We thank the neighbors on our Flight Test Working Group for working with UCSF and our consultants to plan this test. We greatly appreciate the generosity of the neighbors who volunteered to serve as monitoring hosts.
==========Background information on UCSF’s need for a helipad===========
Need for Helipad:
• UCSF Children’s Hospital provides a vast array of expert care from routine immunizations to the most advanced treatments for serious, life-threatening childhood diseases. This expertise is available to the children of San Francisco , and of California and beyond.
• Rapid access to this specialized level of care is vital when a child is critically ill or a baby is born with a devastating birth defect.
• Community hospitals are not able to provide the level of resources and numbers of pediatric specialists available at UCSF Children’s Hospital.
• A helipad at Mission Bay would provide more immediate access for the most critical of these children. Speeding the UCSF Transport Team to the bedside, or airlifting from a remote hospital will save many lives.
Use of Helicopter Transport:
• Helicopter access to UCSF Children’s Hospital will be limited to the most critical and life-threatening situations
• The types of patients that would require helicopter transport include:
- A newborn with a life-threatening heart defect that requires immediate surgery to survive
- A child with septic shock and organ failure who may die within hours
- A pregnant woman with severe pre-eclampsia, threatening her life and the life of her baby
• Helicopter transport requires a physician’s approval before it is dispatched
• All patients with less serious conditions will be transported by ground ambulance or airplane ambulance for longer distances
A helicopter will NOT be used for:
• Routine transport of stable patients
• Transport of patients from UCSF to other facilities
• Transport of staff, administrators or other non-patient related travel
Estimated Transports Per Day:
Current information on actual projected use of the helipad is as follows:
Projected Annual Transports: 500 per year
Projected Monthly Transports: 40 per month
Projected Daily Transports: 1.4 per day
(This is well within the average for other non-trauma center children’s hospitals, and includes neonatal, pediatric, and maternal patients).
Helicopter Daily Average Arrival Times:
7 a.m. – 3 p.m. 0.58 per day (42%)
3 p.m. – 11 p.m. 0.55 per day (40%)
11 p.m. – 7 a.m. 0.25 per day (18%)
Helicopter Monthly Average Arrival Times:
7 a.m. - 3 p.m. 17.5 per month (42%)
3 p.m. – 11 p.m. 16.6 per month (40%)
11 p.m. – 7 a.m. 7.5 per month (18%)
Approvals:
• San Francisco Board of Supervisors must approve the helipad before the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) - Aeronautics Division will consider UCSF’s application to construct and operate the helipad.
• UCSF is also required to obtain an FAA Airspace Determination to ensure that the proposed flight paths are clear of obstructions and meet dimensional requirements, prior to requesting approval by Caltrans.
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