http://foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.com/norway-used-an-f-16-fighter-jet-to-save-a-mans-life-1772979480The F-16 Viper, a fighter jet used by numerous countries around the world including Norway, is capable of flying at more than 1,000 miles per hour. So when a patient in northern Norway needed lifesaving equipment and need it quickly, the Norwegian Air Force came to the rescue.
A critically ill man in the northern Norwegian city of Bodø needed an ECMO machine, which is normally used to supplement a patient’s own heart and lungs. That was a problem, as the nearest ECMO machine was in Trondheim, which was 280 miles to the south, according to the Independent:
A 10-hour journey by car, they feared the man would die before it could arrive.
However, after a moment of inspiration, they decided to contact an air force base near Trondheim to ask if there was any hope of getting the equipment to Bodø in time to save the patient, whose precise condition was unclear.
And Lieutenant Colonel Børge ‘Gaff’ Kleppe, leader of 338 Squadron, told local media outlet VG News: “Chance would have it that we had two flights bound for [nearby] Moss on an exercise.”
