Britain’s Prince William today spoke about the “sad, dark moments” he went through in the course of his job as an air ambulance rescue pilot.
The second in line to Britain’s throne made the comments during an online BBC documentary chronicling his work as a pilot with East Anglian Air Ambulance (EAAA) and the service the charity provides.
In reference to one of his toughest rescue missions so far, the 34-year-old royal said: “I think my most challenging one was to do with burns."
“There’s one job in particular that was really quite nasty and I don’t know how the medical crew dealt with it either because they came to the rescue and did everything they (could) and sadly the casualty was beyond help.”
“Yeah, there are some very sad, dark moments and you know we talk about it a lot. That’s the best way of dealing with some of the situations is you talk.”
The Duke of Cambridge was filmed sitting on the open side end of an air ambulance with co-pilot Captain James Pusey.
“I really look forward to coming here every day. And I love working as a team: that’s something that my other job [royal duties] doesn’t necessarily do: you are more out there on your own a little bit,” said the prince, who completed his tour of duty as a Royal Air Force (RAF) search and rescue pilot in 2013.
“I want to be a valuable member of the team. At the end of the day (I want to) feel like I have made a difference and a contribution to whatever it is I’ve done that day,” said Pilot William Wales, as he is known at work.
The documentary has been released to mark the UK’s National Air Ambulance Week and is described as a multi-media portrait of the EAAA and its staff.
In the last year the East Anglian Air Ambulance attended 2,085 incidents with cases including patients injured in fires, horse riding accidents, industrial accidents and road traffic collisions.
The BBC documentary also features still photographs of the Duke at work and he is filmed refuelling a helicopter and helping to take equipment on board.
