Only fools star backs Air Ambulance
Sir David Jason has just become patron of the Association of Air Ambulances.
We asked him about his interest in the air ambulance service and his passion for flying:
Q: What prompted your interest in the UK’s air ambulance service?
A: It started with a charity day at Norwich Airport with the East Anglian Air Ambulance (EAAA). I was helping to launch a special piece of equipment which detects overhead cables for helicopter pilots. On chatting further to the helicopter crews I became aware of just how valuable their work is and, in a small way, wondered if I could raise awareness of and interest in their fund-raising campaigns.
Q: What impressed you most when you started to learn more about the air ambulance service?
A: I couldn’t believe that the EAAA – like the other 17 air ambulance charities in England and Wales - is entirely funded by charitable donations and yet they perform such a valuable, life-saving service for everyone in the country. The crews have to be so skilled and brave to take on a new location and situation on every flight and not always in the best of weather conditions. With growing road traffic, sometimes a helicopter is the only form of transport which can quickly reach an accident scene.
Q: When did you first become interested in flying?
A: I’ve been interested in flying since being a little boy and have a keen interest in space exploration and all things aero-nautical. I started out my own flying experience in gliders and then, more recently, in helicopters. I relish the challenge of flying a helicopter as it is notoriously difficult and it is a total distraction from everything else.
The strange thing about flying is that when you’re on the ground, the skies seem so busy, yet when you’re in the air, because pilots are slotted into their own airspace and have to keep a very safe distance, it’s remarkably peaceful and an escape from real life.
Q: What’s your message to those who don’t know about the air ambulance service?
A: One of my chief aims in being involved with the AAA is to highlight the fact that all the air ambulance crews around the UK are solely dependent upon donations and could not survive without them. I know that everyone is constantly being asked to dig deep into their pockets for so many charities but this one really does help to save lives on a daily basis. They get no financial help either from the Government or the National Lottery – not even for fuel. As with so many causes, it’s down to the great, British public to fund it in its entirety.
If everyone gave just as much as they could spare, it would make a huge difference to the upkeep of this critical life-saving service.