Air Zermatt gears up for the summer season
External partners and Air Zermatt employees receive training in a range of different courses for everyday situations in their work with helicopters. All are busy brushing up on their skills and teamwork for the upcoming summer season.
Working on, and especially below, a helicopter is not without its dangers, and employees at Air Zermatt are required to undergo continuous training to keep their know-how up to date on an annual basis. This is not just a legal requirement – Air Zermatt itself is also committed to making sure its employees are on top form at all times.
The internal courses are held every April, in between the winter and summer seasons. And this was the week for recurrent training for task specialists and paramedics, as well as for the Crew Resource Management course, or CRM for short, aimed at promoting teamwork between the different departments.
Optimizing recurrent training for all
Task specialists come into contact with a wide range of equipment in their everyday work, and it’s vital to make sure they can use this equipment correctly. Annual recurrent training is about raising awareness of problematic situations among both permanent employees and freelancers.
Sandro Imboden, Ground Operation Manager, explains that “The refresher course was intensified and optimized this year. We looked at the areas where we had risky situations or incidents last year, and drew up a set of objectives as a basis for the topics we could tackle together in a series of challenges.”
Teamwork instead of lectures
The main objective of this year’s workshop was to bring together the various operational units to take on the challenges and share know-how in an interactive approach. This concept means that all flight paramedics are taking part in the course again this year. “We regularly see overlaps in emergencies as well as in transport operations, and both task specialists and flight paramedics need to be able to respond effectively in these situations,” Imboden explains.
This year, the modules “Human External Cargo (HEC)/Multilateral Evacuation and Rescue System (MERS)”, “Fire Fighting”, “Helicopter External Sling Load Operations (HESLO)” and “Avalanche & Crevasse Rescues” have been covered.
"Internal communication is hugely important"
This year, the modules “Human External Cargo (HEC)/Multilateral Evacuation and Rescue System (MERS)”, “Fire Fighting”, “Helicopter External Sling Load Operations (HESLO)” and “Avalanche & Crevasse Rescues” have been covered.
Crevasse rescue at first hand
For this year’s CRM course, a trip to Testa Grigia was planned for all employees from Zermatt and Raron who work in flight operations, and involved analyzing various emergency situations. Due to the weather conditions, however, the plans had to be adjusted slightly and the exercise was moved swiftly to Furi.
On the first CRM day, the 35 or so participants were able to experience a crevasse rescue at first hand, as well as an avalanche operation. “In an emergency situation, for example, dispatch staff are also part of the process. We also want to show them what situations like a crevasse rescue and an avalanche operation involve, which information is important and how they can react in the most effective way at the operations center. The same goes for task specialists and rescue crews, with the pilot of course also included. Internal communication is hugely important,” says Sandro Imboden.
The CRM course program was repeated for the second group of staff on Wednesday, this time on the Trockener Steg thanks to bright sunshine: “Ensuring safety in flight operations by solving tasks together, promoting cooperation within the team and preparing each individual in the best possible way for the busy transport and rescue season ahead.”
Participants were very happy with the first three days of the course, convinced that group training within the various areas is a great idea. This setting allows for a form of exchange that is rare in everyday work, and for staff to benefit from training outside the context of hectic and emergency situations.
Two more course days will be held next week, and once these are completed the entire crew will be fighting fit and ready for the summer season.
We would like to thank our partners ZBAG, Matterhorn Speed Opening and the rescue specialists for covering the individual challenges on the various days of the course.
Together, the crevasse rescue is put under the microscope with the help of a tripod.
