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Region of Waterloo International Airport - YKF - Printable Version

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RE: Region of Waterloo International Airport - YKF - Bob_McBob - 06-25-2017

https://www.therecord.com/news-story/7391134-future-of-downtown-helipad-will-need-to-be-examined-mayor/

Having some convos about this on Facebook. The usual local personalities believe it demonstrates Kitchener city council is completely incompetent and should be voted out, it's somehow caused by the LRT, etc. As far as I can see this sort of thing is mostly federally regulated; the operator (Grand River Hospital according to one EMS) is supposed to perform a new obstacle survey when an object is going to penetrate the flight path, and the construction company is supposed to provide notification to Transport Canada and affix standard obstruction markings. What is Kitchener's responsibility in this? Does Grand River Hospital actually operate the heliport? Is this likely something that will be resolved quickly?


RE: Region of Waterloo International Airport - YKF - rangersfan - 06-26-2017

Why is the helipad not on the hospital roof? Or just the fact that when the need for a helipad arose the cost of the extra chunk of land vs the complexity of a rooftop helipad made the decision an easy one?


RE: Region of Waterloo International Airport - YKF - Bob_McBob - 06-26-2017

It was built in 1991 with the expectation of 15-20 flights/year. I guess it just didn't make sense to spend a ton of money on a fancier heliport, and still might not if an alternative flight path is available. Interestingly, relocating the heliport to Grand River Hospital is part of Kitchener's midtown redevelopment goals released last month.

https://www.kitchener.ca/en/livinginkitchener/resources/Planning/PARTS/PLAN_PIC3-2017.05.18-MIDTOWN-Panels-WEB.pdf


RE: Region of Waterloo International Airport - YKF - ijmorlan - 06-26-2017

(06-25-2017, 11:16 PM)Bob_McBob Wrote: https://www.therecord.com/news-story/7391134-future-of-downtown-helipad-will-need-to-be-examined-mayor/

Having some convos about this on Facebook. The usual local personalities believe it demonstrates Kitchener city council is completely incompetent and should be voted out, it's somehow caused by the LRT, etc. As far as I can see this sort of thing is mostly federally regulated; the operator (Grand River Hospital according to one EMS) is supposed to perform a new obstacle survey when an object is going to penetrate the flight path, and the construction company is supposed to provide notification to Transport Canada and affix standard obstruction markings. What is Kitchener's responsibility in this? Does Grand River Hospital actually operate the heliport? Is this likely something that will be resolved quickly?

To be fair, even to unreasonable people, we LRT enthusiasts would claim that the construction project is at least in part caused by LRT. Tongue

Personally I hope they find a way to put it on the hospital roof. Eliminating the ambulance hop at the end feels like a significant win.


RE: Region of Waterloo International Airport - YKF - jamincan - 06-26-2017

I would think there are structural reasons that they couldn't put it on the roof.


RE: Region of Waterloo International Airport - YKF - ijmorlan - 06-26-2017

(06-26-2017, 07:58 AM)jamincan Wrote: I would think there are structural reasons that they couldn't put it on the roof.

Unfortunately I expect you’re right. I think I’m really thinking more in terms of a new addition that can be designed from the beginning to accept that load, but I don’t really know how likely that is to come together, or what non-obvious problems there might be with that (e.g. obvious: no plan to build significant addition in near future; non-obvious: everything I don’t know about flight-path design). I wonder how the load of a helipad compares to the load of another floor?


RE: Region of Waterloo International Airport - YKF - SammyOES2 - 06-26-2017

"Hospital officials said Friday that will add 15 to 20 minutes to the trip but should not affect patient care."

Quotes like this drive me crazy. It seems highly unlikely to be true, but even if it is true (say super-urgent cases are already by-passing Kitchener for a bigger trauma center in another city), nobody is going to believe it unless you add some more details.


RE: Region of Waterloo International Airport - YKF - danbrotherston - 06-26-2017

(06-26-2017, 09:22 AM)SammyOES2 Wrote: "Hospital officials said Friday that will add 15 to 20 minutes to the trip but should not affect patient care."

Quotes like this drive me crazy.  It seems highly unlikely to be true, but even if it is true (say super-urgent cases are already by-passing Kitchener for a bigger trauma center in another city), nobody is going to believe it unless you add some more details.

It is mentioned in the article:


"Critically injured patients most often are transported directly from the scene by helicopter to Toronto."

But it could be more explicit.


I am surprised that the crane is a problem.  I mean, I understand it is in the current flight path, but these helicopters are able to land at the scene of serious incidents, which are likely to have navigate around similar obstructions, I am sure they can do it here, and as the article states, even did do so the first time.  I'm not a helicopter pilot, but I'm guessing this is more of a "risk management" strategy than an actual problem, basically, they're unwilling to make more difficult and riskier landings when there is a nearby airport available, and as soon as they get a different flightpath approved, they'll resume using the helipad.

I am a bit surprised that there was no lighting though, if the landing had been at night, it could possibly have been disastrous if they had not seen the crane.


RE: Region of Waterloo International Airport - YKF - panamaniac - 06-26-2017

As I read the Record piece, it's less than clear that there's any actual problem, beyond one pilots complaint about an unlit crane (now corrected). I'm not clear at all as to why helicopters can't continue to use the existing pad.


RE: Region of Waterloo International Airport - YKF - timc - 06-26-2017

If you moved it to a rooftop helipad, would you need two of them, one at GRH and the other at St. Mary's?


RE: Region of Waterloo International Airport - YKF - danbrotherston - 06-26-2017

(06-26-2017, 10:23 AM)timc Wrote: If you moved it to a rooftop helipad, would you need two of them, one at GRH and the other at St. Mary's?

Presumably not, but if there was a rooftop helipad, only one hospital would need to use an ambulance for part of the patient transfer, right now both do.


RE: Region of Waterloo International Airport - YKF - nms - 06-26-2017

It would be interesting to know whether one hospital sees more helicopter referred patients than the other. My understanding was that some intensive specializations exist in one hospital vs the other one. On a related note, as far as I can tell from Google Maps, Cambridge Hospital doesn't not have a roof top heliport.


RE: Region of Waterloo International Airport - YKF - schooner77 - 06-26-2017

St. Mary's is the regional heart centre, so the assumption is that heart critical evacuations go directly there. Trauma, especially severe cases, will go directly to Toronto or Hamilton, depending on availability. The 15-20 minute ride from the airport, including transferring vehicles, really won't make much difference. The danger is in the transfer, more so than time. Brain injuries tend to go to Hamilton immediately. I don't think this is a surprising decision.


RE: Region of Waterloo International Airport - YKF - Bob_McBob - 06-26-2017

(06-26-2017, 09:41 AM)danbrotherston Wrote:
(06-26-2017, 09:22 AM)It is mentioned in the article:SammyOES2 Wrote: "Hospital officials said Friday that will add 15 to 20 minutes to the trip but should not affect patient care."

Quotes like this drive me crazy.  It seems highly unlikely to be true, but even if it is true (say super-urgent cases are already by-passing Kitchener for a bigger trauma center in another city), nobody is going to believe it unless you add some more details.

It is mentioned in the article:


"Critically injured patients most often are transported directly from the scene by helicopter to Toronto."

But it could be more explicit.


I am surprised that the crane is a problem.  I mean, I understand it is in the current flight path, but these helicopters are able to land at the scene of serious incidents, which are likely to have navigate around similar obstructions, I am sure they can do it here, and as the article states, even did do so the first time.  I'm not a helicopter pilot, but I'm guessing this is more of a "risk management" strategy than an actual problem, basically, they're unwilling to make more difficult and riskier landings when there is a nearby airport available, and as soon as they get a different flightpath approved, they'll resume using the helipad.

I am a bit surprised that there was no lighting though, if the landing had been at night, it could possibly have been disastrous if they had not seen the crane.

I got reamed out by an EMS tech for making assumptions based on the article. Critical injuries are sent to Toronto, but pretty much any Ornge flight is going to be emergent, so it could be things like cardiac patients at imminent risk of dying being sent to St Mary's.

Transport Canada has very specific regulations about the flight paths around heliports. I'm really unclear on how the city even figures into it. The heliport operator is supposed to perform a new survey when an object is going to penetrate the obstacle limitations survey, but any company planning to erect something that will do that is supposed to notify Transport Canada and supply construction details. Pretty much anything over about 6.5 storeys at 100 Victoria St S is a problem. I was surprised to discover there is no legal requirement to add markers, just a set of voluntary regulations.

This is actually a big problem in Toronto. Sick Kids and St. Michael's have had to adjust their helicopter flight paths numerous times because of new construction, and a couple years ago they said there was basically no more room for adjustment and any further diversions would make their heliports non-functional. I'm not sure who actually officially handles the issue in Toronto though. There is a specified area around Pearson administered by the GTAA where special permits are required for construction cranes, but that only covers a small part of Toronto.


RE: Region of Waterloo International Airport - YKF - jamincan - 06-26-2017

I suspect it's more likely that patients are transferred from local hospitals in the region to other higher-level centres in Hamilton, Toronto or London.