The controversial helipad on the island of Culatra was used this morning for the first time.
An emergency flight of a medical helicopter landed at 07.00 to transport a woman with serious heart problems to Faro hospital.
The head of the Culatra Residents’ Association, Silvia Padinha, said that this emergency flight was only made possible thanks to the initiative of the community which last September built its own helicopter landing platform despite having no permission and in a move that environmentalists considered illegal.
Culatra has around 1,000 inhabitants and the old method of emergency uplift was by boat which could take up to an hour. The only boat ambulance that was bought to serve the Ria Formosa area has never been used as, after spending several hundreds of thousands of euros buying the boat, no one can decide whose responsibility it is.
The helicopter took 7 minutes to arrive.
The cost of the helipad was shared by the community and some local companies, and can take the widely used but heavy Kamov helicopters.
The helipad construction was denounced by the League for the Protection of Nature, who deemed the work illegal, getting quite annoyed that the locals wanted something done and local council officials did nothing to stop them building the rather useful concrete slab.
Quercus pointed out at the time the irresponsible behaviour of some local politicians who took advantage of the situation in order to canvas for local votes, even though they were aware that the construction of the helipad was illegal.
One of the onlookers was Rogerio Bacalhau, who now is the mayor of Faro.
