Flying squad

From the air, the helipad atop the roof of the Leeds General Infirmary jumps out at you, the great white cross unmissable. Rotors chopping, we swoop past in a steep curve. If I were a real casualty, we could be down there in seconds and I'd be on my way to an operating table almost before I knew what was happening.

Thankfully, this is just a training run. But the speed with which we've reached here is remarkable; just two minutes, swooping and dipping over farmland on the northern edge of Leeds and then across the city centre roofscapes themselves. By car - or traditional ambulance - the journey from Leeds Bradford Airport where the Yorkshire Air Ambulance is based would have taken 25 minutes at least. For a casualty with a critical head injury, that extra time could mean the difference between living and dying.

My headphones crackle. It's David Hey, the air ambulance paramedic along with me for the flight. "The quicker we can get to a patient and get them to hospital, the more chance they have of surviving," he says. I nod.

Since October, the air ambulance has been flying to the furthest-flung corners of Yorkshire, an angel of mercy swooping down out of the skies to bring relief and help to those who need it most.

The single helicopter, painted vivid AA yellow after the organisation which sponsors it, has been in operation virtually seven days a week. It's been called out about 300 times since October - and in emergencies where time really matters, it's invariably the first on the scene.

If a 999 call comes in about a climber on the moors who's suffered serious injuries in a fall, an RTA in a remote lane in the Dales, or even a city centre accident where there are suspected serious head or spinal injuries and speed is of the essence, the air ambulance can be scrambled into the air in less than three minutes.

It can wing its way through the skies at up to 140mph - and with no traffic jams or red lights to slow down progress, it means even the most remote corners of Yorkshire are just minutes away.

The compact chopper is equipped with everything you'd find in a front-line ground ambulance - cardiac monitor, defibrillator, ventilator, suction unit for clearing airways, oxygen and supplies of the pain-killing gas entonox.

The 'clam doors' at the back pull open to reveal a tunnel into which a stretchered patient can be slid. While in flight, the patient's lower body and legs will be virtually immobilised - but his head and upper body protrude into the well of the helicopter, where the team of two paramedics can talk to him and reassure him - and if necessary administer life-saving care.

Best of all, the nearest hospital will be just minutes away - and the ride is super-smooth, important if there are spinal injuries which could be made worse by bumping and jolting.

"It's a much smoother journey than in a normal ambulance," David says over his headphones - the only way of communicating in-flight, because of the thunderous noise of the rotors. "That's very important if we've got a patient with a major trauma or spinal injury. A normal ambulance carrying such a patient may have to slow down to 10mph so they don't aggravate the injuries. We don't have that problem."

There are plenty of people who can attest to the air ambulance's ability to reach places other paramedics can't reach - and do it quickly.

Among them is Christopher Helm. In January, the 54-year-old walker was out rambling with his wife Dorothy and friend Dan at Gaping Gill - a remote corner of the Yorkshire dales below Ingleborough Hill.

He slipped crossing a stream - and broke his hip in the fall.

It could have been serious. Fortunately, the group had a mobile phone and were able to call for help. The Air Ambulance was scrambled - and he was whisked to Airedale Hospital in a matter of minutes.

"It's great to know the air ambulance is there to help you when you come a cropper like I did," he says. "Especially in such a remote area where it is difficult for a land vehicle to reach you.

"My wife travelled back down the fell in a Land Rover and she said the helicopter had spared me a very bumpy ride!"

The ambulance isn't only scrambled for accidents in remote, rural areas, though - it can be called out to incidents anywhere in Yorkshire where speed is vital. That could mean attending major road accidents on the A1, A19 or M62, or cases where somebody has fallen off a ladder in a town or city centre and sustained serious head or spinal injuries. In such cases car parks, green spaces and even roads can be called into use as landing pads, once police have closed them off.

"Even in city centres often there are suitable places to land," says pilot Stuart Doyle, peering down over the roofscape of Leeds flashing past beneath us as we head away from the LGI back to base at Leeds Bradford. He points out the space in front of Leeds town hall. From up here it looks tiny - but there's plenty of room there to put the chopper down if we needed to, he assures me.

Back at base, we hover, waiting for a commercial flight to land at Leeds Bradford before coming in ourselves. Stuart explains that if we were on an emergency flight, we'd be given priority, but because this is a routine flight, we have to wait our turn.

For a vital, front-line life-saving operation, the Yorkshire Air Ambulance's base is very simple. A scrap of tarmac on a forgotten corner of the airport, near a private flying school - and a single portakabin as HQ.

Money is at a premium. While the air ambulance is controlled by the West Yorkshire Ambulance Service, and can be called on by any of the ambulance services covering Yorkshire, including the Tees, East and North Yorkshire Service, it is funded entirely through charitable donations. Not one penny of NHS cash comes its way.

Esme Crabtree, the West Yorkshire ambulance services press spokesperson, who also handles publicity for the air ambulance, says it needs to raise £1m a year just to keep the service at its present level.

Even with that amount of cash, the number of missions the ambulance can fly is limited - the budget stretches to only two hours flying time a day, on average.

That means it's only scrambled when it is really needed. But if it is you that needs it one day, you could well end up thanking your lucky stars for Yorkshire's airborne ambulancemen.

- If you would like to help the Yorkshire Air Ambulance charity, either by making donations or offering practical help, contact it on 08451 20 60 60.