VISITING AIRCRAFT AT ERLANGER MEDICAL CENTER/T.C. THOMPSON CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL

• To obtain permission to land, Civil Air Medical Programs should contact the Life Force Communications Center as soon as it is evident that an aircraft may transport to Erlanger. A minimum of thirty minutes notice before landing is preferred. You may contact the Life Force Communications Center by telephone at (800) 523-6723 or via radio.

• All inbound aircraft will contact Communications at least ten minutes before landing to confirm landing permission and receive landing/parking instructions. All inbound aircraft will contact "Life Force Communications" on radio frequency 123.05. If multiple aircraft are inbound, aircraft may be required to communicate with Communications and other aircraft on radio frequency 123.05.

• Off-loading patients with rotors in motion will not be performed unless specifically authorized by the Life Force Communications Center. Safety and patient care concerns will be the determining factor, with safety taking priority. If it is deemed necessary that a visiting aircraft should conduct a “hot unload” and Life Force Staff are not available to assist with the off-load, the visiting air medical program will conduct the “hot off-load” without assistance.

• Pilots must be available to relocate their aircraft immediately after off-loading, as required by the Communications Center.

• The Erlanger helipad will not be used if actual weather conditions do not meet the following VFR weather minimums:    Local Area Day 500-1  Night 1000-3

• Erlanger’s helipad is located in the operational surface area of Chattanooga’s (Lovell Field) Class C airspace (Class E after midnight). Operations to Erlanger’s helipad requiring a special VFR clearance will not be permitted without prior coordination with the Life Force Communications Center.

Compliance with these guidelines is required to facilitate a safe and efficient operating environment for patients and all personnel involved in helipad operations.

As flight increases in and out of Erlanger, there are several situations where it is necessary to ask visiting aircraft to reposition to Lovell field until their crew has completed delivery of patients to the hospital.  Pilots must remain with their aircraft on the helipad until either their crew returns or they are asked to reposition, as the number of helicopters on the helideck dictates.  If asked to relocate, pilots are expected to comply in a timely manner.

Our communications center is a multi-functioned center.  Unless requested by our communications, we ask that no one enter the center.

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