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Comment by mehrdadn | Hacker News Reader

This looks awesome. How does it compare to a helicopter though? Are helicopters not available for these situations?

It doesn’t mention pricing but I would imagine these would be significantly cheaper than a helicopter. If each mountain rescue team could have their own then that would really help.

I think right now they're like $440,000 [1] which is comparable with cheap helicopters (if not more expensive), but far lower than the average helicopter.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAJM5L9hhBs&t=6m14s

They go over that. The idea is that the air ambulance can't necessarily land that close to the patient, the jetsuit can allow the medic to cover severe terrain rapidly between the helicopter and the patient; ditto for terrestrial ambulances trying to reach patients over difficult terrain.

Thanks for the info, makes sense! Can I ask where they go over this? I've already read the article and watched the video multiple times but somehow I'm still not seeing where they discuss this.

Helicopters don't necessarily have to land either. They already have the capability to lower a medic and litter using a winch while hovering.

I don't think the charity provided air ambulances in the UK have winches. They would have to call in a coast guard or military helicopter for that.

It sounds like this organisation would like to have more capability in house.

Although, I'm not sure if the extra capability would be worth the risks from flying an experimental jetsuit...

You can't keep a helicopter in the back of a van.

Helicopters are faster than vans so they don’t need to fit in one.

Also, you can easily put a cheaper, more fuel efficient, and safer paraglider in the back of a van which can also carry even more supplies.

It looks like a paraglider requires a minimum of 30 yards of runway to take off and land (assuming there's nothing obstructing it at the end of those 30 yards, like trees), with some pilots suggesting 150 yards without tall trees to safely take off. I could see that being an issue in a lot of areas, especially mountainous areas where flat areas are only in the valley.

That said, I don't have any personal experience with paragliders, so perhaps there are VTOL options?

Take off requires a cliff or small runway depending on wind conditions, but you can do a pinpoint landing just like a parachute, which seems to be the concern. I suspect they are going to be walking back either way to keep an eye on the injured person.

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