ROTN F-16B Viper "Lifeguard"

[AeroplaneDriver]

Finally managed to snag a 1/48 F-16B on Ebay. Don't keep up too much with F-16 kits so was not aware that they are a bit hard to find at a decent price.  I got the Italeri one which sounds like it has a few issues, but nothing I can't work with, especially as I'm building it as a B instead of the Israeli one featured on the box art.

The backstory may be a little controversial, and I hope it's not "too soon", so if it bothers anyone I'll modify but in my head right now it goes a little something like this...

By 2023 is was becoming evident that the COVID-19 pandemic would have lasting effects. A significant percentage of people who recovered from the virus suffered long term organ damage which lead to a large spike in organ transplant candidates globally.  As demand for donor organs rose it became clear that the ability to move a viable organ a long distance in a short time would increase survivability for many patients.  The old days of 'rapid' organ transportation meaning a passenger jet traveling at Mach .82 or less just wasn't as effective anymore. 

To address the need to move donor organs faster around the United States a national network of leading transplant hospitals worked quickly with the FAA and DoD to develop a high speed network using a small fleet of surplus F-16B aircraft. This was named the "Rapid Organ Transplant Network", or ROTN.
Though still limited to subsonic cruise speeds for most of their missions, the ability to cruise at Mach .95+ was still significant.  Even more importantly the FAA and DoD developed "high speed corridors", mostly offshore, but also in some sparsely populated areas of the western US that allowed periods of supersonic cruise. Stripping of military hardware significantly reduced weight and drag on these F-16s allowing for useful periods of high speed flight without the need for refueling.  Primarily using existing military airspace these corridors were quickly implemented with virtually no disruption to other civil airspace operations. 

Crewed by former military pilots these Lifeguard Vipers carried specially trained Flight Nurses in the rear seat acting as an organ courier from hospital to hospital.  The organs themselves were carried in specially designed pods carried on a modified weapons pylon. 

The time savings afforded by these high speed organ couriers saved many lives that may otherwise have become long term victims of COVID.


It's taken me a while to settle on an idea for this GB, and this one just came to me out of the blue (so to speak) a few weeks ago.  Hopefully shipping is fast and I can get started on this one in the next week or so. 

Having flown a couple of "Lifeguard" (the callsign used for critical medical transport flights) organ transport flights back in my Charter Pilot days I can say it is one of the most rewarding and even moving experiences I've ever had professionally.  Doing it in an F-16...?  Well that would be pretty amazing. 

[scooter]

Deployment and GPS guidance of the organ pod from aircraft to ER ambulance entrance or helipad?

[AeroplaneDriver]

Deployment and GPS guidance of the organ pod from aircraft to ER ambulance entrance or helipad?

That may be a bit too much.  😆

The Flight Nurse/Courier will just unload it and board said ambulance or helo.

[Pellson]

There's actually a real occasion in Norway where a F-104 pilot transferred an organ from northern to southern Norway, so you're not even Whiffing that much.. 😉

[AeroplaneDriver]

There's actually a real occasion in Norway where a F-104 pilot transferred an organ from northern to southern Norway, so you're not even Whiffing that much.. 😉

Good to know!!  I usually prefer my Whiffery to have an air of plausibility to it.

[jcf]

Was it a pipe, Hammond or Farfisa organ?