Two Big Island patients received emergency air transportation this weekend despite a pause in air ambulance services by Hawaii Life Flight.
One patient from Hilo Medical Center was flown late Sunday night to The Queen’s Medical Center on Oahu. Another patient from Kona Community Hospital was airlifted Saturday night via helicopter with assistance from the Hawaii Fire Department.
No patients needed transferring from Queen’s North Hawaii Community Hospital over the weekend.
Hawaii Life Flight suspended its air ambulance services after one of its planes disappeared at 9:27 p.m. on Thursday roughly 15 nautical miles off of Maui’s Hana Coast. Three crew members were en route to pick up a patient from NHCH.
“A plane went down, and we lost three of our loved ones here in Hawaii, it appears,” said Gov. Josh Green during a livestream interview Monday with the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. “It has an impact on all of us, because Hawaii Life Flight is our service between our neighbor islands and Oahu when patients need critical care or extra health care they can’t get in rural areas.”
Green issued an emergency proclamation Friday recruiting additional medical help and transportation, which will remain in place until Dec. 27.
“One of those (replacement) planes is actively transporting patients as we speak,” said Green. “A second jet is coming now, so they’ll have two planes.”
A partnership with the military also will allow Black Hawk helicopters to assist.
“Black Hawk helicopters are available if, God forbid, there were two accidents or two emergencies at the same time,” Green said. “Right now, they are on duty, and we also have one on call.”
The U.S. Coast Guard officially called off its search for the missing plane late Sunday night.
“Our team conducted a total of 28 searches, over the course of 67 hours, covering over 4,732 square nautical miles,” said Jennifer Conklin, the Coast Guard District 14 Search and Rescue Program Manager, in a press release on Sunday. “While it is not an easy decision, we have suspended the active search pending any further new information.”
Hawaii Life Flight is the only service providing medical air transportation between islands.
“The other company left us several months ago because they couldn’t make it work economically,” Green said. “We normally get 10 to 15 patients transferred a day from the neighbor islands to Oahu or between Big Island and Maui for different services.”
Hawaii Life Flight, operating in the state since 2010, temporarily grounded its remaining seven aircraft serving the islands.
Speedy Bailey, a Hawaii Life Flight spokesperson, said during a Friday press conference that a pause in service is routine when an aircraft goes missing.
He added the duration of the current pause in service is “fully dependent on all factors that we are looking at and gauging, talking to our crews, looking at all of the information that we have with respect to reports, maintenance, making sure that when we say we are ready to fly, that we are airworthy, and people believe that.”
A crew from the National Transportation Safety Board arrived Saturday to investigate and is encouraging any witnesses to call (844) 373-9922.
A previous crash occurred in 2004 when a Hawaii Air Ambulance Cessna 414A crashed into Maunakea during a flight to pick up a patient in Hilo, killing three.
Green said last week’s incident involving the missing plane emphasizes the need for additional medical services and professionals on the neighbor islands.
“We have to have more redundancy of services in case of crises,” said Green. “And, we’ll see whether or not we need another partner.”
Email Grant Phillips at gphillips@hawaiitribune-herald.com.