Difference between sensory memory and sensory register

American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics 1Design of an Air Ambulance Aircraft for the Australian Environment Allison L. Adorni-Braccesi1 and Cees Bil2School of Aerospace, Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, RMIT University, Melbourne, VIC 3001, AUSTRALIA Australia is a large country with the majority of its population living in capital cities on the coast line. The inland part of the county, also referred to as the Outback, is sparsely populated and not easily accessible. The Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS) is a national organisation providing Australia an airborne medical transport and emergency paramedic service. Currently the RFDS covers an area of 7,150,000 km2, flying on average 65,544 km a day. Their fleet consists of about 60 aircraft, flying of 21 bases Australia wide. The performance of the aircraft that the RFDS uses are critical to the quality of their services they provide. To date, there has never been a custom build Air Ambulance, neither in Australia, or the rest of the world, a surprising fact, when it is considered that there or over 100 Aero-Medical companies operating in the USA. The aircraft currently in use are converted business or light regional aircraft that were not designed specifically for MediVac operations. These conversions are both time consuming and costly, with the last purchase and refit costing the RFDS over 8 million Australian dollars. This formed the basis of an undergraduate student design project to design an aircraft specifically for MediVac operations. The Request for Proposal was drawn up Air Ambulance Victoria whose staff also provided valuable support to the students. This paper gives a summary of the findings of that design project. I.Introduction HE Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS) is an emergency and primary health care service for those living in rural, remote and regional areas of Australia. It provides health care to people who are unable to access a hospital or general practice due to the vast distances of the Outback. The service began in 1928, originally as an experiment known as the Aerial Medical Service (AMS) which was to run for a single year. This experiment was based in Cloncurry, Queensland. It was formed by Rev. John Flynn, the first Superintendent of the Australian Inland Mission (AIM), a branch of the Presbyterian Church of Australia. The first RFDS aircraft was a De Havilland DH.50 leased from the founders of what was later to become Qantas Airways. Within the first year of operations, the service flew approximately 20,000 miles in 50 flights, becoming the first comprehensive air ambulance service in the world. The RFDS fleet numbers 60 aircraft: •29 Beechcraft B200 King Air •5 Beechcraft B200C King Air •2 Cessna 208B Grand Caravan •24 Pilatus PC-12 1 Undergraduate Student, School of Aerospace, Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, RMIT University, PO Box 71, Bundoora, VIC 3083, Australia, AIAA Student Member. 2 Associate Professor, School of Aerospace, Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, RMIT University, PO Box 71, Bundoora, VIC 3083, Australia, AIAA Senior Member. T Figure 1. Patient loading through side door.49th AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting including the New Horizons Forum and Aerospace Exposition4 - 7 January 2011, Orlando, FloridaAIAA 2011-545Copyright © 2011 by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Inc. All rights reserved.
American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics 2With the operation of our aircraft across and into many remote areas and places, airstrip maintenance staff and facilities normally available at most population centres are often not available. As a result of this, to ensure the safety of our crews and aircraft, the RFDS is reliant on people in remote and isolated areas to maintain a high standard of maintenance to their airstrips. The general requirements are based on CAAP 92-1(1) Guidelines for Aeroplane Landing Areas. The airstrip is maintained by the local population and must be kept operational at all time. Before the arrival of an aircraft, the runway is checked with a motor vehicle and if necessary, prepared using a grating device towed behind a motor vehicle. The RFDS services more than 80% of Australia (7,150,000 km2), an area nearly the size of the United States of America. On average per day, it attends to 750 patients, performs 100 medical evacuations, flies 65,000 km with about 200 takeoffs and landings. The RFDS operates standard aircraft that have been modified for MediVac operations. An interesting question is: what would an aircraft look like if it was designed specifically for MediVac operations as carried out by the RFDS. Would there be significant differences in design features and aircraft performance. This question formed the basis of an undergraduate student design project at RMIT University. In collaboration with the Air Ambulance Victoria and Five Rings Aerospace Pty Ltd a typical design specification was drawn up (see appendix) and given to a design team of 12 students. This paper gives a summary of the design proposal with discussions about their specific design choices. II.Major Design Requirements Using appropriate sizing estimations a matching chart was constructed and a suitable sizing was chosen for the Air Ambulance (Figure 3). A number of constraints were considered in conjunction with the matching chart, these include: • Stall requirements of maximum co-efficient of lift for different flap deployments. • Take-off requirements for FAR 23. • Landing requirements for FAR23. • Climb rate and climb gradient requirements specified by FAR23.65. • Climb rate requirements specified by FAR23.67. • Climb gradient requirements specified by FAR23.77. • Cruise requirements at a speed of 245 kts and an altitude of 25000 ft. The design point P was chosen to minimise the necessary power required and the surface area required. Using an estimated takeoff weight of 5693 kg, the following sizes for the Air Ambulance were found: Wing loading 1,266 N/m2Power loading 35.2 N/kW Wing surface area 44.11 m2Power available 1,584 kW A.Cargo Door Possibly the most important and necessary element of a custom built Air Ambulance is the cargo door, used to load the patients, and the patient loading system itself. While the current Air Ambulance aircraft have these elements fitted to their aircraft in the best way possible, designing an Air Ambulance around what is most comfortable, safest and least disruptive for the patient is Figure 2: Typical air ambulance interior. Figure 3. Matching chart with chosen design point P.