An Airforce Osprey blew a hospital helipad to kingdom come. This might be one of the cooler news of the day though sad for the hospital who has to fix its helipad for no reason. The US Air Force Osprey tiltrotors accidentally blew so much air that the rubber matting helipad just blew away. The weirder thing is that why didn’t the pilot land on the helipad itself. Maybe it has something to with keeping it clear for medical helicopters.
The pilot had no way of knowing that the helipad was just made of rubber matting and lying there. The incident took place on Wednesday at the Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge, UK. The helipad was being used in a military exercise that involved the US Air Force units. A CV-22 Osprey landed near the helipad and soldiers came out maybe running a drill, after a while they all went back in and the Osprey fired off its rotors in full throttle to take off.
This was when one part of the helipad blew off and the rest soon followed as the Osprey rose to the air. According to ITV, a news site in the UK, “Addenbrooke’s is the major trauma center for the East of England, and its helipad is used by the East Anglian Air Ambulance, Magpas Air Ambulance, and Essex and Herts Air Ambulance”. Guess they didn’t factor in the 12,000 horsepower Osprey when designing the helipad.
You can watch the whole thing in the video below, brace yourself for what happens in the end, it’s more than what you’d expect.
The CV-22 Osprey has a reputation for blowing things away but this might be the first helipad. The two Rolls-Royce Liberty AE1107C engines generate so much air during vertical take-off that things like lawn chairs, tents, and trees can’t withstand it. Now we can add helipads to the list.
The US acknowledged its mistake by saying that “The area was surveyed according to our policies and procedures and some damage did occur. We are taking steps to rectify as soon as possible”. The statement was given by a member of the Air Force’s 48th Fighter Wing.
Time to watch Osprey landing and take-off videos just to see stuff get blown away.