By Lucy Richardson
The Northern Echo
STOCKTON, England — The boss of the Great North Air Ambulance has said he was shocked by an incident in which a man was hit on the head when an object fell out of one of its helicopters.
Chief executive Grahame Pickering said the lease agreement with the aircraft’s owner PDG Helicopters had not been renewed in a bid to reassure staff and the public.
Kevin Manning was struck when a rear door on the helicopter opened as it flew 700ft over Thornaby Stockton, and an A4 folder fell out.
The 24-year-old had been playing football with friends in Stirling Way on the evening of June 17.
Details of the incident emerged as a result of an air inquiry by the Air Accidents Investigation Branch.
It stated Mr Manning was hit by an A4 stationery folder, but he says that he was hit by a blood pressure equipment case.
The aircraft was three minutes into its journey from a Teesside hospital to its base at Durham Tees Valley Airport, near Darlington when the right rear cabin quarter-door opened without warning.
At the time it was being leased to the Great North Air Ambulance by PDG Helicopters, the UK’s largest onshore helicopter operator.
Mr Pickering said: “Considering we are a very safetyconscious organisation with an outstanding record, this incident and its unnerving outcome has shocked us all.
“To reassure our staff and the public, the lease agreement with PDG has not been renewed and that particular helicopter withdrawn from service.
“The newer model we recently purchased has had the quarter-door pins extended, making them more secure and visible and the door storage pockets from where the items fell have been removed.”
Mr Manning said he had not received an apology from anybody about the incident and said he was taking legal action.
He was not taken to hospital by land ambulance paramedics after suffering the bump to his head.
“I was okay after a couple of days, he said. “But if this had been a bottle that dropped out, that could have killed me.”
PDG Helicopters confirmed that the aircraft is no longer contracted to the Great North Air Ambulance.
A spokesman added he had no knowledge of any legal action by Mr Manning.
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