LEWISTON, Maine — Working in Maine, LifeFlight crews fly over lakes, islands, and miles of coastline.
While in its 20-year history its never had a water emergency, the team undergoes extensive training to make sure they're prepared.
Pilots, flight nurses, and paramedics spent the day recently at a Survival Systems USA training facility in Groton, Connecticut.
LifeFlight posted some of the photos from a recent training on its Facebook page. You can see the simulated helicopter hovering over the pool, then submerged. At times the overhead lights go out and they continue training in the dark.
Kayla Jones recently underwent the training.
"Situational awareness is huge in this job," said Jones. "And this is just one part of it knowing your surroundings knowing everything that's going on and being able to function at a high level under a lot of stress and that's what we do at LifeFlight every day."
LifeFlight water training
Taylor Clark, a pilot who has been working with LifeFlight for about ten months now, also underwent the training recently. He says the fly often to the islands off the coast of Maine.
"This is training that we hopefully never have to use but the preparation is something that gives us a massive amount of peace of mind," said Clark.
The crew says this type of training and all training they do is about more than emergency preparedness. It’s about the unique team bond they form.