Emergency Vehicles!

 In light of Cars Montana, Switzerland?

Fire has killed between 40-47 and injured over 119 young people very seriously and despite the snow, the service got to the scene quickly with ground vehicles and helicopter air-ambulances to ferry the critically to specialist burns units in the country!

Some countries have adapted medical payload drops, that can treat the burned on the ground, and these may have more to earthquake struck places, where a patient could die en-route to a hospital?

As time goes on there will be many improvements on what we have now with A.I. and drone robots doing most of the more difficult places to reach, even with helicopters and mountain rescue teams!

Age of the Drones!

A valuable tool for many Areas?

We are now living in the menace of cheap drones and professional ones being used in an illicit purpose by both criminals and terrorists! But despite all that is negative about them, there is so much that is good and invaluable!

Mountain rescue, the RNLI and other search and rescue will save their own lives, while saving others! Searching for missing people, animals, livestock and various types of hazardous condition such as bush fires, leaking pipelines will save time to find out the exact problem and get it sorted with limited or specific resources?

Long range reconnaissance and observation will help in flight control and also in police work linking visuals to ground unites and assisting helicopter work to be more specialised. In fact there is an unlimited types of uses in the air, land and over the sea, if not also under the sea, pipes and drains with more mobile drones and other Robotic equipment?

Flying Boats Today? Part-Two.

Viable usages!

We tend to think what was popular seventy years ago would not be today, but many nations with little land and plenty of water are considering the re-introduction of the flying boats to save the development of prime agricultural lands!

Canada, China, Germany and Russia lead the way in flying boats, but the U.S and Japan have revitalised their own boats to re-join their maritime fleets. The flying boat is a very versatile platform, with the obvious they can also be used for military and civil transportation of good and people!

Their advantages are long range and the ability to land on the sea working with shipping in various roles, more to do with the military. Both Japan and the U.S.A. at one time used their aircraft in the search and rescue role and this is now a viable option once more to cover their vast coastlines and islands?

New Technology. Part-One.

Drones to Robotics?

Much of what we are terming new has been around for some time in one form or another, but the applications are perhaps newer rather than new? Drones are improving all the time and plans for deployment in the Mars mission as a helicopter have been suggested, while back on Earth the police and search and rescue are using them with effective search and observation results!

Robotics, as in Androids are also improving but no suggestion as yet for sending into Space has been made? On the industrial front, they will perhaps in years to come have a great advantage with helping older folks and young children and the disabled as in both cases!

There are many military applications for both, at this time many poorer nations will probably opt for drones over that of Robots or Androids for border patrols and police work? Drones are much cheaper to deploy than helicopters, unless a large area needs covering or someone in trouble needs to be rescued?

The Coast Guards. Part-One.

Multi-Role.

Nearly every nation has a rescue service of one kind or another, from being embedded within their police or military. Some are a separate division dedicated to its own provisions of equipment and personnel.

We have mountain rescue, coastguards, Royal Life boat institutions (R.N.L.I.) and many others. Each one plays a specific role on water, in the air and underground. Some fire service units are equipped in this way. There is close cooperation between all the emergency services, during storms, earthquakes, major incidents-accidents and terrorists attacks.

The sea borne operators in the U.S. double up with their vessels to assist narcotics enforcement, apart from search and rescue. This is becoming more so now across the globe with more navies having to deal with people smuggling and ship hijacking.

Mercedez.

Jeeps and four-wheel drive.

For a long time the British landrover series has been seen as ruling the world market in the four by four. Nearly every country in the world produces their own versions of this type of essential off road vehicle and it is the German Mercedez company that over the last thirty years or so have taken the market of many other well know names.

This week we will just have this introduction to the German manufacturer and its other famous off road type the Unimog truck. Please check previous articles on Unimog and 4X4 for further references.

The four by four is used for all off road traffic from farming, search and rescue, police and fire services to ambulances and military activities. Reliable engines and gradient capability along with hauling heavy loads must be the essential elements over that of immediate comfort. Here we are not really dealing with a civilian vehicle like others. many other 4X4 contain many gimmicks to sell them to the general public.

Christmas.

In light of a wet Christmas in the U.K

Perhaps everyone across the northern hemisphere has had some ammount of snow, the U.K. has seen very violent storms, winds rain with severe flooding. Instead of sleds, it has been the boats and inflatables to the rescue.

The inflatable, Zodiac and even the standard rowing boat continues to be part of the invaluable tools used for basic search and rescue across the globe, in all types of flood zones. Little and easy to inflate, they can work in tight spots. Speed is also an essential element to small craft used in this role along with depth levels changing suddenly.

I think we sometimes forget so easily about the very little machines that we use around us, that they do thr very simple jobs and roles. We also tend to forget how much, we could not do without them.

Ambulances. Part-One.

Rescue Carriage.

Ever since men have known the concept of anger, there have been wars and skirmishes. With battles also came rescue carts, waggon's, chariots, it was probably only the king or chieftain and his immediate family and or generals who were rescued to be sorted out by either the priests of shamans.

In British history this claim was attributed to Florence Nightingale who set up medical facilities during the Crimea campaign. The truth was that it was an Black freed American slave women who did mot of the real work. Medical carts were employed during the Crusades 1080-1190 and it was Islamic physicians who helped with the casualties. Which is kind of ironic, because they were the enemy. Yet out of it the Knights of Saint John did establish Guys hospital in London and many other similar institutions across Britain and Ireland.

In the U.S. it was the Christians communities in both the war of Independence and the Civil war who used everything that was available to rescue the wounded and the dying on both sides

Search and Rescue.

Coast Guards, Lifeboats.

Every nation that has a Sea or a coastline, water has a boat and air rescue service of some kind. Big nations have coastguards, while smaller one just have a rescue service. The UK-Eire share the RNLI and Trinity lights. 

Equipment is made up of cutters and helicopters, while on the small scale Zodiac types. The RNLI have a series of their own publicly financed dedicated rescue boats. The Sikorsky Sea king and the Mil Mi-14/17 are the main stay of the worlds rescue fleets, because they have long range flying. Today are are a whole host of newer types becoming available.

The main aims are to get people out of the water, off boats and ships, which are either sinking or they are badly injured. Meanwhile helicopters serve to work with inshore mountain rescues and medivac.

Hovercraft.

The exciting days of the Dover to Calais hovercraft have now gone, replaced they say by the Channel tunnel rail link to France. But I think that this form of transport would still be viable. The hovercraft was much faster than the conventional ferry, because it skimmed over the Calais sands. 


Today we see that the RNLI have found value in smaller machines for rescue work on the sands off Avon and Somerset, while others work the Dee estuary between NE-Wales and the Whirral. 


Many military versions of the hovercraft were built in the former Soviet union. But alas another British invention seems to be put to the side lines, because of politics?