Norwegian F-16 activated to rush medical equipment to critically-illed patient

A Norwegian F-16 was used to help ferry an important piece of medical equipment to a patient 450 kilometers away on Apr. 4.

By GerardvdSchaaf (282) [CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

A patient in the town of Bodo required a extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) device but the local hospital lacks one.

The hospital at Trondheim had one and the quick-thinking staff there contacted the air force for help. Luckily, two F-16s near Trondheim were about to take off and one of the jets had a travel pod attached and the ECMO was quickly loaded on board.

The pilot took only 25 minutes for the quick dash to Bodo and ultimately saved the patient’s life.