As Prince William has started his new job as a co-pilot with the East Anglian Air Ambulance (EAAA), his first call of duty came on Monday, but was shortly dismissed as he and his team were not needed.
Yet an incident near Lyng Farm, Garboldisham located on the Suffolk/Norfolk border had they crew arriving at 9:30 am on Wednesday morning, landing safely in a nearby field.
Coming to the aid of a man who collapsed were an East of England Ambulance service crew, an ambulance officer and rapid response vehicles in addition to the EAAA. However, their efforts were lost.
“Unfortunately despite the emergency services best efforts he sadly died at the scene.” said a trust spokesman.
The first call for The Duke of Cambridge came at 7am as he began his first shift on Monday morning.
His new job sees the Duke flying the new EC145 helicopter from his base at Cambridge Airport.
Prince William was called out to a road crash in St Albans with fellow crew-mates, critical care paramedic Andy Downes, paediatric anaesthetist Dr Gemma Muller, and pilot Capt Dave Kelly, but were told to turn around en route.
The mission to St. Albans “was aborted due to limited visibility in poor weather conditions” said Diana Jakubowska, Head of Communications at the air ambulance service.
Once the crew had safely returned to base they waited out the rest of their shift, but were not needed for another mission.
The remainder of time spent on the shift for Prince William included routine tasks an air ambulance pilot must undertake, such as keeping his knowledge of hospital locations and helipad locations up to date, as well as futher familiarisation with the aircraft.
Jilly Hurley, Public Relations Manager at East Anglian Air Ambulance, noted, “William was doing bits of training, running though procedures and talking about landings.”
“He would have done some orientation on the job on the day and he’s been working very closely with the other pilot, Capt Dave Kelly, on familiarisation exercises.”
As a former RAF search and rescue helicopter pilot, William will be used to the late shifts from 4:30 pm to midnight as well as the early morning shifts beginning at 7 am that he is expected to work.
Photo Credit: World Bank Photo Collection via Flickr