Chopper crew fights elements, injuries in life flights
By DAVID SWAFFORD
By DAVID SWAFFORD Staff Reporter
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — At 9:43 a.m., an emergency call came in. The caller needed the Spirit of St. Joseph Life Flight in.
By 9:46 on a brisk morning last week the airborne ambulance was in flight.
The caller was the 199th to ask for the service of the helicopter and its crew of emergency medical specialists
Flying at about 140 mph, the green, blue and white helicopter soon became only a dot on the horizon.
The helicopter returned to St. Joseph Hospital in Kansas City, Mo., at 10:43 a.m. that morning, and a woman was rushed into the emergency department on a stretcher. She had suffered bruised lungs and broken ribs in an automobile accident.
The Life Flight helicopter is used when injured people need immediate transportation to a hospital.
"Top speed is about 170 mph," Roger Denschle, one of two Life Flight pilots, said after the flight. "But with a good tail-wind, it can reach 200 mph. There's been some times I've had it going that fast."
Kansas City's Life Flight service operates within a
100-mile radius of its base at St. Joseph Hospital. The service responds to about 800 calls a year, said William Latimer, Life Flight director of communications and operations.
"LAWRENCE MEMORIAL HOSPITAL uses this service well," he said. "We've always worked closely with them. They're doing what should be done.
"The idea of transporting patients by helicopter came from the MASH-type units."
Of the rotating Life Flight crew at St. Joseph Hospital, one is a helicopter mechanic, two are pilots, seven are
Denshle has worked as part of the Life Flight team for about 18 months. With the team, he has about 600 hours in training.
"I enjoy it," he said. "It's very fulfilling. There is always the feeling of urgency to get the patient to the hospital. I like helping people."
The Rocky Mountain Helicopter Corp. of, Provo, Utah,
owns the $750,000 aircraft, which life 'Flight Leases.' The
company is based in Colorado Springs, CO.
"They pick the very best and most experienced pilots, who have been flying for many years. The pilots hired had flying time in Vietnam. They have to
Densche spent about a year in Vietnam and is a member of the National Guard. He飞is a military helicopter for the Nato.
have about 3,000 flying hours before Rocky Mountain Helicopter will even look at them."
He flew a cargo helicopter in Vietnam, but he said he had seen more action flying the Life Flight helicopter than he did.
"WITH THIS JOB, I'M right beside what's happening all the time. I'm not detached like I was in Vietnam."
Both Latimer and Densche said that fog was the worst enemy of the Life Flight operation.
the maze. In the bed deftached like I was in Vietnam, he said. Because the helicopter at the Life Flight service in Kansas City has no de-icing equipment on it, the helicopter is not used during ice weather. And during a wind storm it is stored in the Kansas City, Mo., Police Department's helicopter hangar, 8 miles east of St. Joseph Hospital.
"One time on the way back from a long-distance flight, they ran into fog and couldn't go on." Latmer said. "They landed in a farmer's field near lola, and the patient was taken to a local hospital by ambulance."
The Life Flight helicopter at St. Joseph Hospital can carry two patients, though 98 percent of all calls are for small aircraft.
according to their injuries. Most burn victims are transported to the University of Kansas Medical Center. Most cardiac patients are taken to St. Luke's Hospital in Kansas City, and most children go to Children's Mercy in Kansas City, Mo.
The helicopter also transports patients to other hospitals.
Latimer, who has been director more than five years, said that about 4,000 patients had been flown into area hospitals by the Life Flight crew since the service began
He said the survival percentage of victims rose 52 percent when transported from the accident scene to a hospital.
"WE'RE NOT IN COMPETITION with ambulance services, but want to work with them," he said. "We can do anything in the air that they can do in the emergency department. In fact, we are a flying emergency department."
Twelve Kansas City area hospitals have landing pads, Latimer said. Of all Life Flight calls, about 30 percent were at the airport.
The Kansas City Life Flight service started in 1978. It was the fifth such hospital-based emergency air medical service in the country. Latimer said.
The oldest emergency air medical service, Latimer said, is in Boston, which utilizes five helicopters.
CAMPUS AND AREA
Enrollment:
From sweaty trips to micro-chips
Waiting in line for enrollment gives Dan Boeth, Roanoke, Texas senior, a chance to catch up on some homework. Boeth was one of hundreds of students who were delayed Monday during enrollment because of a computer malfunction. Pictured below is the computer enrollment center in Strong Hall on Monday, the first day to secure fall classes. (Photos by Jim McCrossen—Kansas.)
The University Daily
KANSAN
April 11, 1984 Page 17
By JENNY BARKER
Staff Reporter
In the fall of 1982, about 20,000 people waited in scores of lines at Allen Field House. Some spent hours in the class to get into the classes they needed.
Those 20,000 were the last students to participate in the Allen Field House enrollment ritual, which spanned more than 10 years.
In spring 1983, silicon chips replaced cardboard enrollment cards, and a new system was born; a system that is faster, lauded as faster, and more efficient.
However, the first few semesters of computer enrollment were marred with glitches that created lines in the field house that had formed in the field house.
Computerized early enrollment confused faculty and frustrated students. Faculty members had to wait weeks to find out who was in their classes and often couldn't tell students whether their courses were open or closed. Students didn't understand the add-drop procedure and stood in lines for hours just to get appointment cards.
But Gary Thompson, director of the office of student records, said re-
corded data is not stored.
refined and that its advantages were outweighing its disadvantages.
Thompson has worked with both systems and says that most students and faculty members prefer computerized early enrollment to the previous system.
System saves time
The new enrollment system is faster, fairer and more efficient than field house enrollment. Thompson said.
"But," Thompson said, "those 30 students represented about 30 different living groups, and some of their friends got in out of turn."
"A senior going into the field house could enroll in five classes, at best, in a week."
Thompson said that other students filled out their enrollment cards in pencil, which allowed them to change student names and pull course cards for friends.
Cheating discouraged
That kind of cheating is unlikely to occur under the new system. Courses now must be listed in ink and receive a dean's stamp from the appropriate
'A senior going into the field house could enroll in five minutes. Now we can get seniors out of here in 90 seconds.'
Gary Thompson Director, KU student records
said. "Now we can get seniors out of here in 90 seconds."
Under the old system, students used a variety of clever tricks to get the classes they wanted, Thompson said. But the new system has squealed most of the opportunities for cheating the system, he said.
In the field house, 30 students worked at long check-in tables at to ensure that students did not enroll before their scheduled times.
school. In addition, only three people check enrollment times cards at the door of the enrollment center in 113 Strong Hall, Thompson said.
Thompson said the only real concern about cheating under computer enrollment was forgery of special permission cards. If students obtain blank cards and sign instructors' get entry into closed courses, he said.
But there's a catch here, too. Thompson said, because all special permission cards are returned to the person whose names appeared on the cards.
Computerized early enrollment also may allow academic departments to adjust their course offerings according to enrollment demands.
When enrollment took place in the field house, faculty had to count enrollment cards to know which of them were attracting students and which weren't.
A refinement in the computer enrollment program will do that counting for the departments beginning fall 1984. With the refinement, chairmen will be able to know how many students are enrolled in a course at any time during enrolment, Thompson said.
"The argument was that when we pulled cards at the field house, we
Despite these advantages, James Carothers, associate professor of English, said that early computer teachers would be expected in its first two semesters.
See ENROLLMENT, p. 19, col. 1
Not all went as expected
Med Center lawsuit is delayed
Utility seeks back charges of $3 million
By DAVID SWAFFORD Staff Reporter
A $3 million lawsuit against the University of Kansas Medical Center has been delayed more than a year while investigators try to determine how much electricity the Med Center wasn't registered on a faulty meter.
The Kansas Board of Public Utilities sued the Med Center last February for utility bills that said the Med Center hadn't paid.
Med Center officials said then that the Med Center shouldn't be charged for the electricity because a faulty electricity meter had caused erroneous bills.
Kathy Peters, an assistant city attorney in Kansas City, Kan., said recently, "The case is in the discovery stage right now. Various engineers on the floor have worked at the figures to determine how much electricity was used and not paid for."
The BPU discovered in May 1981 that since November 1975 one of the electric meters connected to Bell Memorial Hospital had failed to correctly register the amount of electricity flowing into the hospital.
The University, the Board of Regents and the state of Kansas were also involved.
AT THE TIME the BPU filed the complaint in federal court, Richard von Ende, executive secretary of the University, said that the defendants were responsible for causing the ination in bills because the defendants were not responsible for the faulty meter.
Peters said that the BPU's argument throughout the case had been that the attacker was trying to trick the system.
Bruce Miller, attorney for the defendants, declined to comment because
In an attempt to nullify the $3 million that the BPU says the Med Center owes, State Rep. Bill Bunten, R-Topeka, last year introduced a bill in the House to amend an existing state law regulating utility companies.
BPU officials said that the meter had malfunctioned because the plastic surrounding the meter's grounding screws, designed to prevent electrocution during installation, was not removed after installation.
Aircraft design keeps KU student's head in the clouds
By SHANE HILLS
Staff Reporter
"I spend 80 percent of my waking hours thinking about some adjustment I could make on the design of my plane," says Hunt, who says he's started over at least 10 times since he began working on the project in January.
Turner Hunt is obsessed with creating his own design of a reconnaissance aircraft that can circle up to 24 hours above foreign territory. To prevent pilot fatigue, the plane must be almost effortless to fly.
Besides Hunt's solo efforts, three student design teams are working on aerospace entries for a group-oriented competition. The space shuttle team must create plans for a craft capable of flying 200 nautical miles farther into space than the National Aeronautic and Space Administration's current shuttles.
Hunt, a Richmond, Va., senior in the aerospace engineering program, hopes to be the fourth KU student in a row to win a prize.
Two other teams are working to design a navy fighter-trainer plane. They must also show how their planes would be manufactured.
EACH TEAM WILL SUBMIT detailed drawings, calculations and a written report of about 100 pages.
Hunt and the design teams work under the general supervision of Jan Kosman, Dee K. Ackers distinguished
"No one has to participate in the competitions," said Roskam. "But once they agree to, they can't chicken out. Their grade depends on it. We make them honor their commitment. This is so much better than just plain classroom work. You can't learn design entirely out of books. You just have to do it."
Individual KU students swept the top five places in the AIAA/United Tech competition last year. KU students have placed first in that competition since it was established in 1981.
The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics cosponsors the annual individual student design competition with the United Technologies Corporation. The A1AA which designs defense-related aircraft, with the Bendix Corp., which designs defense-related aircraft.
ROSKAM SPECULATED THAT some students were scared off from the individual competitions because of the truancy.
"They may have heard it through the grapevine," he said. "Certainly it is a heck of a lot of work for the individuals."
Roskam attributed the last three years of KU successes in the individual design competition to the aerospace engineer-
"We have a very heavily structured program," he said. "Our students must pass through classes on aircraft structures, propulsion, aerodynamics, performance, stability, control and automatic controls before they even see a design class. At most universities that's not so, and I think that's disastrous."
Students get a rigid set of technical specifications in both the individual and group competitions.
Hunt said it was still possible to personalize his own design, however. "Give 10 people the same specifications and not one will come up with the same plane," he said. "The more I find out, the more I realize how much I don't know."
Roskam, perhaps the students' toughest critic, said he stressed not only the technical content and feasibility of the designs, but also the organization and clarity of the presentations.
“WHEN AN ENGINEER WORKS in reality,” Roskam said, “he finds that at least 50 percent of his time is spent communicating the results of his work to others. That's why we require students to write lab reports and give speeches to
Lee Patterson director of student programs for the New
York-based AIAA, "The main reason KU has done so well in the United Tech competition is Rokram himself. He is obviously a strong proponent of design, and very much in the forefront of this generation of industries are using, and what missions they are fulfilling."
Roskam selects students who he considers able to design a competitive aircraft. "Some students seem to have a natural talent for what I call synergistic design," he said. "They are prized. They get the choicest jobs and salaries."
Brian Quayle, a 1983 KU graduate and now an engineer for Brian Colehall-California, placed first last year in the individual
"THE AMAZING THING IS that all through school they warned us that our first few years would be spent drawing bushings, grommets and right-angle clips — very basic tools that would be used in any group, generating the very first concepts for an airplane."
Roskam said the two fighter-trainer teams working on the Bendix competition faced a difficult mission.
"This plane has to act like a fighter and a trainer. It must be able to fly high speeds at high and low altitudes. Obviously, a $40 million plane would be unaffordable to the nation. The team has to minimize costs to about $8 million to $10 million, which will be very difficult considering what the plane must be capable of doing."