Currently the civil aviation industry across China has demonstrated great solidarity with companies actively devoting themselves into battling the virus. In particular, general aviation as one of the two wings of China civil aviation has been acting fast at this critical stage, proactively shouldering their social responsibilities by leveraging their advantages of being swift, efficient and flexible in transporting material supplies to the epicenter. Among those, 14 general aviation enterprises from Hubei province spontaneously asked for approval from Hubei Safety Supervision and Management Bureau to assist, while the General Aviation Sub-Association of China Air Transport Association also called upon unmanned aircraft companies to act and contribute.
In fact, general aviation being an important force for emergency rescue in China has always played a significant role in disaster relieve and risk rescue that happened several times in the past, and now general aviation is again standing side by side with Chinese people in this national fight against the virus.
KINGWING：
Land in Wuhan, Close the “Last Mile” Gap
On Feburary 1, the 10th day after Wuhan was locked down, when hospitals were running out of their supplies, a helicopter fully loaded with protective materials in urgent need by frontline medical staff appeared in Xinhua Road Stadium of Wuhan.
At 17:55 of that day, a KINGWING AW109 helicopter with a full load of 800 pieces of protective suits landed at the center of the stadium, where the medical staff rapidly queued up moving those supplies in order.
It was the first time KINGWING participated in supply transport during this outbreak. The company received this task of transporting medical supplies with helicopter from Hubei Emergency Management Department on 16:00 of the day, then its Hubei Branch immediately started preparations in compliance with a contingency plan developed in advance. On 17:00, the helicopter took off from Wuhan towards Xiantao, Hubei to pick up the medical supplies donated by Wuhan Cultural Innovation Industry Promotion Association, landed on a temporary take-off/landing point in Xiantao, arrived at Xinhua Road Stadium on 17:55 and then handed over the 800 pieces of protective suits to the medical staff.
Shanghai KINGWING General Aviation Co Ltd. is a benchmark air rescue company in China, its branch company KINGWING Hubei joined as a member in the air rescue team of Hubei Emergency Management Department. The transport task it participated was part of a total of over 3000 protective suits and 24000 masks delivered to Wuhan Union Hospital and Wuhan General Hospital of Guangzhou Military Region.
Hubei Chutian General Aviation：
Race to Rescue, Carry Supplies Day and Night
At 11:00 of February 3, CAAC Hubei Safety Supervision and Management Bureau (Hubei SSMB) received an application from Hubei Zall Group requesting a general aviation aircraft ride for a batch of emergency medical supplies it donated from Nanjing to Wuhan. After reporting to and having received instruction from Hubei Prevention and Control Command Center and Hubei Emergency Management Department, Hubei SSMB immediately arranged Hubei Chutian General Aviation to execute this task.
At 14:16 of February 3, Chutian B-10HF aircraft took off, and successfully arrived at Wuhan Airport at 20:00 with a total of 100 sets of respiratory machine and 10 boxes of masks, which were handed over to persons sent by Hubei SSMB at the airport.
Qingdao Helicopter Aviation：
Mi-171, Back on Stage
On February 1, two Mi-171 helicopters of Qingdao Helicopter Aviation took off from Wuhan Hannan Airport performing transport of medical supplies to Yichang, Xiangyang along with some other places.
It was back on January 28, when three crew teams of Mi-171 from Qingdao Helicopter Aviation, as initiated by Captain Zhang Zicheng, proposed an offer to Hubei Emergency Management Department saying they are ready to be on call.
Therefore after receiving the tasks of transporting medical supplies to Yichang, Xiangyang among others, the aircrew immediately prepared application for route operation, and expressed during mobilization that they will spare no effort to live up to their commitment and complete the mission.
As led by Captain Zhang Zicheng, air crew B-7859 operated the Hannan Airport-Guanggu Storehouse – Yichang School -Enshi Airport-Hannan Airport route.
And as led by Captain Zhong Jianwen, air crew B-70EH operated the Hannan Airport-Guanggu Storehouse-Xiangyang Hospital-Shiyan-Wudangshan Airport-Hannan Airport.
The successful completion of this mission by Mi-171 crew of Qingdao Helicopter Aviation well demonstrates the outstanding emergency rescue capability of Mi-171 helicopter and the superb flying techniques of pilots from Qingdao Helicopter Aviation and their great courage in front of difficulties and unwavering patriotism when facing danger.
Desheng General Aviation:
Take off from Zhejiang to Land in Hubei
On the morning of February 5, Desheng Aviation, a wholly owned subsidiary of General Dynamics Aero Tech, sent an Airbus H155 helicopter with a full load of medical supplies in short at frontline from Zhejiang to Huanggang, Wuhan and Xiaogan of Hubei province.
This charity act was co-executed by Hangzhou Gongyanghui Charity Fund and General Dynamics Aero Tech-Desheng General Aviation, where Hangzhou Gongyanghui Charity Fund raised and donated 5 sets of fully automated nucleic acid extraction system, 59000 units of extraction reagent and some other medical protective supplies in urgent need. These medical equipment and supplies have been respectively delivered to the centers of disease control and prevention of Hubei, Huanggang and Xiaogan, and will be allocated to hospitals in most need as soon as possible. Fully automated nucleic acid extraction system can highly improve the efficiency of testing novel coronavirus, and reduce the time for screening and confirming suspected cases, so as to enable fast diagnosis, immediate isolation and early treatment for patients and buy more time for the outbreak containment efforts.
While the nationwide fight against virus has come to a critical stage, General Dynamics Aero Tech-Desheng General Aviation, being a leading general aviation enterprise in Zhejiang, will guarantee a 24-hour standby helicopter and crew that are ready anytime to operate gratuitously and contribute our own strength.
NewSky Heli:
Serve “Heli Express” No Matter the Cost
On Feburary 3, a civil helicopter of Shanghai NewSky Heli Co. Ltd took off from the airport within the Tomson Golf Course, fully loaded with 20 boxes of medical supplies in urgent need of the epicenter, heading straight to Wuhan where they handed over the supplies to 3 hospitals. One thing worth mentioning is that among this supplies, there is a box of treating reagent from Shanghai Chest Hospital for critically ill patients, which in particular required fast transfer to the Shanghai medical team assisting Hubei.
Cao Xintian, Founder of Shanghai NewSky Heli Co. Ltd expressed that at this difficult time for the country, NewSky Heli is willing to serve “Heli Express” no matter the cost and provide free air transport of medical supplies for the society to help ease the problems faced by the epicenter.
COHC:
Fly to a Super Cruise Ship to Collect Sample for Test
On the early morning of January 25, 17 out of 100 tourists from Hubei onboard a cruise ship in the sea area of Tianjin had fever, when the ship carried a total of 3706 tourists and 1100 crew members.
Under the leadership of Tianjin Municipal Party Committee and Government, Tianjin Municipal Command for Prevention and Control of Novel Coronavirus-caused Pneumonia immediately launched the contingency plan, detailed emergency handling measures and implemented an order that required onboard screening and test for arriving ships and service suspension for departing ships. With those 17 people having fever, testing staff got onboard and collected throat secretions as sample.
To deliver the sample in the fastest speed for test, COHC sent out a helicopter on the morning of January 25 to fly to the cruise ship, where the air crew had to hang up the sample to the aircraft as there was no way to land on the ship.
After the helicopter arrived inland at 12:00, police car escorted a transfer vehicle to send the 17 pieces of sample to Tianjin Center of Disease Control and Prevention for chemical test, which 3 hours later concluded all 17 samples negative, ruling out the possibility for infection of novel coronavirus-caused pneumonia. Based on the test result, the cruise ship was approved to enter the harbor after over 10 hours adrift in the sea.
Joy General Aviation and Jitai General Aviation:
General Aviation Enterprises in Guangzhou are Asking to Join the Fight
Recently, two general aviation companies from Guangdong province spontaneously offered to CAAC Guangdong Safety Supervision and Management Bureau that they are willing to standby and be prepared to join emergency rescue during the prevention and control of Covid-19.
These two companies are Joy General Aviation and Jitai General Aviation, which in total own 3 Cessna 208B aircraft that is capable of transporting emergency rescue supplies and personnel. The crew is qualified for night operation and has been on all-time standby position since recently.
In addition, Jinmen General Aviation, subordinated to AVIC General Aviation Zhuhai, also presented similar offer to CAAC Hubei Safety Supervision and Management Bureau, willing to contribute emergency rescue assistance at any time.
Having received those offers, CAAC Guangdong Safety Supervision and Management Bureau expressed full appreciation to those general aviation companies, and timely reported such to the General Aviation Division of CAAC Central-South Regional Administration and local emergency management departments in Guangdong; in the meantime, Guangdong SSMB also instructed general aviation companies to enhance internal prevention and control of the disease and safety management so that they can be capable of performing emergency tasks assigned by CAAC and provincial and city governments at any time. Guangdong SSMB is also actively coordinating with all relevant units to make sure that general aviation companies within its administrative region can successfully and timely assist outbreak control when they are needed by the Party and country.
Application Extension
Unmanned Aircraft: New Weapon to Fight Virus
On the afternoon of January 28, Gansu Fangzhou Rescue Volunteer Service Team applied to Gansu Shenlong General Aviation for two unmanned aircraft to carry out all-round disinfection of over 18300-square meter open space, outpatient clinics, inpatient departments, office buildings, communities and public fields in Lanzhou. By doing so, those unmanned aircraft have made great contributions to local prevention and control of the disease.
Unmanned aircraft is playing an increasing role since outbreak containment entered the critical stage and the measures mentioned before can be very good examples to learn from. The general aviation branch of the China Air Transport Association on February 1 called upon domestic UAV enterprises to actively shoulder their social responsibilities by making the most of the advantages of unmanned aircraft in remote-control and flexible flight and assisting disinfectant spray, air patrol, broadcasting and other control and prevention efforts.
Application of unmanned aircraft for message broadcasting and temperature monitoring has appeared recently in many places around China. For example, in the Shiqiao Street Community of Xiacheng District, Hangzhou city, unmanned aircraft was put into use on February 1 with the major task being patrolling crowded areas, where they would send out messages reminding the citizens to be careful with self-protection and not to stay outside for long, and automatically measure and transmit body temperatures with an installed monitoring system to the computer terminals of community staff. This newly implemented handy tool has enabled the street communities to develop a comprehensive disease prevention network, and to put more human recourses to where they are needed the most.
One of the biggest characteristics of unmanned aircraft is its ability to get a full view of the ground from air, which enables it to be conveniently used to monitor if people on the street are gathering for crowd activities, if they wear masks and even the plate number of passing vehicles and facial characteristics of passers-by. And with a megaphone attached to the unmanned aircraft, operators can send alert information by simply talking into an intercom in hand without physically rushing in front of certain people, which can not only enable timely alert but also improve work efficiency.
As Covid-19 infectors usually have the symptom of fever, temperature monitoring is an important measure to contain the spread of disease. However, getting close to measure someone’s body temperature would make it more likely for healthy people to be infected. Considering such, applying unmanned aircraft in temperature monitoring can be an effective way by reducing direct contact between people; with a ultra-red sensor to identity subject and the function of automatic hovering, unmanned aircraft can efficiently measure the temperatures of a large group of people, and even more, rapidly transmit measurement data to terminals installed in mobile phones or computers, largely assisting the work of health screeners.
When the technology keeps advancing, we should march together with the time and make the most of technology resources, so that we can turn them into our new weapons against the virus.
