best day EVER

I had the amazing experience of flying in a helicopter from Baltimore, Maryland to Morgantown, West Virginia about a week ago. It was the most fun I have ever had. I had a grin plastered on my face from the moment I found out I was going, until I fell asleep that night. It's hard to pick a coolest part, but I loved the helmet with earphones and microphone for talking to the pilot, medic and nurse, I loved taking off and landing, I loved how close we were to the mountains, I loved wearing a flight suit and saying "Roger that." I loved everything about it.

It turns out, that before I ever wanted to be a doctor, I wanted to be a pilot. Before that I wanted to be a fire truck, but I was only three and my dad was a firefighter. I loved planes. My dad took me to a park next to National Airport (now Reagan National) where we lay in the grass watching planes take off and land. Together, we assembled a model of an SR-71 blackbird. I even took a "physics of flight" class in the fourth grade. Sometime after fourth grade, my interests shifted toward the biological sciences, and here I am, a neonatal ICU doc and a neuroscientist who wants to fly.

The trip was to pick up a patient, who thankfully was very stable, allowing me to thoroughly enjoy myself. The scenery was beautiful on the way there, bucolic farmland, forests, mountains. We took off from the helipad on top of the Children's Center, and flew to Frederick to pick up a map because the pilot didn't have a map of WV. Then we flew through (and among) the mountains of Western Maryland.

While we were packing the patient up, Syscom called to tell us we had 30 minutes, because thunderstorms were closing in from either side of the city. Two minutes later, they called back and said to be on the helipad in five minutes, a tornado was headed our way. That certainly got us moving. Just before trooper 1 got to the helipad it was pouring rain, buckets and buckets. Luckily, the rain let up some when we loaded the patient and ourselves into the chopper. We had a full load of fuel for the long ride back to Baltimore, so the helicopter had some trouble taking off. We hovered over the helipad for minutes that felt like hours, then the nose tilted forward off the edge of the building and we caught wind that took us into the air.

It didn't take us long at almost 200 mph to outrun the bad weather, and the rest of our trip home was beautiful. Returning to Baltimore was great, seeing familiar landmarks like the Bromoseltzer tower, and the hospitals where I have spent the last ten years.

Best. Day. Ever. I mean it.


(Helicopter photo from MSP webpage)