ROANOKE, Va. – For those who lived in Southwest Virginia in the 1990s and the 2000s, there was no mistaking the sound and look of Carilion Clinic's Life-Guard 10. The mainstay retired nearly 10 years ago, but Carilion has learned it recently crashed fighting fires in Spain.
The crash has prompted a trip down memory lane for the Life-Guard family, humbly remembering its roots. Terry Lovell was one of the pilots of the aircraft that arguably made the program what it is today.
"It was the Coupe de Ville, (the best of the best), that's what it was," Lovell said. "For this kind of job and lots of other jobs, it has lots of power and lots of room."
Life-Guard celebrated its 35th anniversary serving the Southwest Virginia community just a few years ago, now using a system of three helicopters strategically placed throughout the region. But for 19 years, it was the Bell 412, known as 'Lima Golf,' that did the job, transporting about 10,000 people across the area.
The crew used to think that helicopter was unstoppable until they learned about the crash late last year.
"It breaks your heart because you just think about how many lives she touched, how many employees' lives, patients' lives, families, the community and all," Carilion Clinic Patient Transportation Senior Director Krista Henderson said. "The community and all of that is running through your mind."
Lima Golf collided with a biplane in Spain late last year, killing the pilot of the biplane, a famous European rally car driver. The helicopter crew survived, which Life-Guard staff say is a testament to the life it lived. But the crash is a tough pill to swallow when you think about the good it did in our region. Lima Golf was a workhorse, with the capacity to carry four patients and utilized an oversize fuel tank for long hauls.
"Considering the fact that we were the first (air ambulance) program in Virginia, that really has a great deal of significance to the community and to all of the EMS, fire and health care workers that helped transport patients in Life-Guard 10 in the Bell 142," Carilion Clinic Life-Guard Program Director Susan Smith said.
The Bell 142 set the standard for Carilion in 1990 until its retirement in 2009. After its life in Southwest Virginia, it went to Nigeria with the United Nations and then to firefighting missions in Europe, which is what it was doing when it crashed.
"It's hard to realize it's gone, but so be it. If they don't fix it back together, I wish they'd bring parts (of it) so we can all have pieces to hang in an office somewhere," Lovell said.
Whether or not Lima Golf ever sees the air again, Carilion won't soon forget the bird that got them to where they are now.