HFI Heritage Series Roy Morgan Helicopter Air Ambulance Pioneer by Martin J. Pociask ALL PHOTOS COURTESY ROY MORGAN ROY COURTESY ALL PHOTOS HFI: Roy, thank you for agreeing so we took a turn and headed west. which I joined and later became its to share your life story and career I found a good-paying job working operations manager. I also took a part- experiences. When and where were on an oil rig in the oil fields near time job pumping av fuel at Yingling you born? Torrington, Wyoming, next to the Cessna, which paid for more flying airport. lessons. Our son, Roger, was born in Morgan: I was born in the middle of Twenty days later, I bought a very Wichita. the Great Depression, on September tired Piper J-3 Cub airplane from the After 2½ years, Boeing had a large 16, 1935, in Monte Vista, . airport manager for $750. He had a layoff due to cuts in the B-52 program. crop-dusting company that was about I was one of the laid-off employees. HFI: What attracted you to aviation? to go bankrupt. HFI: You then went to work for Morgan: A visit to the dentist’s office HFI: You could afford that? 5½ years at General Dynamics’ when I was 10. Astronautics Division, where you were The dentist was struggling to pull Morgan: It was a no-money-down and involved in the Atlas intercontinental a tooth while I was squirming in the take-over-payments arrangement that missile program and served as quality chair. The dentist promised to let me included flying lessons. I soloed on assurance supervisor. ride in his plane if I’d sit still, and he July 17, 1955. kept his promise. I used to wash planes Morgan: Yes. I went to work for during my preteen years for free rides HFI: You moved to Wichita, Kansas. GD/A, moving from one missile base at the Monte Vista airport. to another. We averaged a move every Morgan: Shortly after the birth of six months. HFI: What was your childhood like? our daughter, Deborah, we moved to The pay was good. I was able to Wichita, Kansas, “where the airplanes buy a very tired twin-engine Cessna Morgan: Both of my parents were are.” Wichita was home to Cessna, UC‑78. I called it my Bamboo alcoholics. My mother left the state Boeing, Beechcraft, and Learjet Bomber. It was in such bad shape, I and abandoned me at the age of two. plants. did not dare take my family up in it. My father left the state at the end of I took a job with the Boeing Later, I bought a Cessna 180. After my freshman year in high school. Airplane Company. I was involved the Atlas program was completed, I Without a family, I got a job in the Boeing B-52G program in was laid off again. scrubbing floors in a creamery and experimental development and slept in the broom closet on an Army tooling. HFI: And you spent 5½ years at Key cot. I worked my way through the 10th Boeing had an employee flying club, Aviation, a fixed-based operator. grade at Monte Vista High School and charged food at several groceries and cafes. Jobs were few and pay was poor in Monte Vista, so at the end of my sophomore year, I moved to Sterling, Colorado, where there was oil exploration work. I worked on a rig all summer and paid off my debts from the prior year in Monte Vista. In my junior and senior year of high school, I drove a school bus and worked part-time for Dow Chemical in the oil fields. I graduated from Sterling High School on June 1, 1955, and wasted 10 days before I married Dorothy Ann DuBois. We just celebrated our 60th anniversary.

HFI: What was your financial situation?

Morgan: We had a worn-out car and $50. We headed north into Nebraska. There were no mountains in Nebraska,

2 ©2016 Helicopter Association International. There you held a number of titles including director of operations, chief pilot, chief flight instructor, and FAA-designated flight examiner. Your involvement there included helicopters, airplanes, and gliders. What can you tell us about the experience you gained at Key Aviation?

Morgan: In 1963, with limited flight qualifications I was unable to find a flying job in Colorado. Next choice was to look west, perhaps California. Along the way, I was offered my first full-time job as a flight instructor in Salt Lake City for Kelsey Ellis Air Service, which later became Key Aviation. When I started with Key, the company had two trainers and three charter planes. When I left, they had 20 planes, three sail planes, and three helicopters, all of which I learned to fly. By the time I left Key, I had 11 years. I flew as much as 1,000 hours ■■ Fairchild Hiller FH-1100 an airline transport pilot (ATP) a year. ■■ Hughes 300 and 500 multiengine land, airplane commercial During that time I took night and ■■ Sikorsky S-76 (as co‑pilot). instrument, single-engine land weekend classes working toward a and sea, commercial glider, and college degree. My airplane experience includes a commercial and instrument helicopter long list from the J-3 Cub through the certificates and ratings plus gold HFI: What aviation schools have you Gulfstream Commander 1000. seal flight instructor certificates attended and what training have you in all of the above. I am a former received? HFI: In 1980, you founded Air FAA-designated flight examiner for Methods Corporation — the largest private, commercial, multiengine and Morgan: I attended Metropolitan emergency medical services (EMS) instrument, and a former FAA safety State University of Denver and operator in the world. You started out counselor graduated in 1982 with a Bachelor as the lone pilot and employee. During of Science degree in Aviation your tenure, you managed every aspect HFI: You were involved in the Management. I have attended of the company, including serving as development of the first hospital training at Bell Helicopter, Fairchild chairman of the board, president, FAA helipad in Salt Lake City, at Holy Hiller Corporation, FlightSafety director of operations, and chief pilot. Cross Hospital. International, Gulfstream Today, Air Methods has more Corporation, and Hughes Aircraft than 4,000 employees and more than Morgan: Yes, and I brought in the Corporation. 400 medical helicopters, 50 tourism first patient by helicopter, flying him helicopters, and 20 medical airplanes. outside on the skid cross-tubes of a HFI: You have logged an impressive Can you point to a single event Bell 47, Korean MASH-style. 19,277 hours of flight time, including that became the catalyst that put 7,125 hours in airplanes, 12,060 hours your career on the path to perform HFI: You left Key in 1969 to work in helicopters, and 92 hours in gliders helicopter EMS? for the Public Service Corporation of and other aircraft. What models of Colorado. aircraft have you flown? Morgan: On a cold, snowy winter night in 1967, I was the on-call charter Morgan: Yes, I started with a Fairchild Morgan: Helicopters that I have flown pilot for Key Aviation. I was at home Hiller FH-1100, then a Bell 47G-2A, include: sleeping when I was awakened about and later a . ■■ Bell 47G3, 47G-5, 206B-3, 206L‑1, 2:00 a.m. by my pager. The call was an Projects included power-line 206L-3, 212 (as co-pilot), 222UT, urgent flight request to Kanab, Utah, construction, patrol, and line 407, and 412 (as co-pilot) a place I had never heard of before. maintenance work for the next ■■ Enstrom F-28 The weather in the Kanab area was

©2016 Helicopter Association International. 3 reported good; however, there was a really bad snowstorm in Salt Lake. I called Dick Williams, my co-pilot, and we met at the hangar. To our surprise, A&P mechanics had strapped in a portable oxygen tank, taken a couple of seats out, and installed a litter in the Beechcraft Queen Air that had been assigned to the flight. We did not know it was going to be a medical flight until that moment. In the sixties, it was common to go to small towns and meet the physician, nurse, patient, and family at the clinic or hospital. We arrived at Kanab and waited for a car ride to the clinic. Finally, a car with flashing red lights appeared. A Utah Highway Patrol officer jumped from the car and opened the back door, revealing a baby in serious condition and an unconscious grandmother. The officer Morgan (right) with legendary test and air show pilot Bob Hoover at the 2015 Living said the baby’s mother and father had Legends of Aviation awards. Morgan was inducted into the group in 2014. been killed in a one-car accident in a very remote area with no medical care, HFI: Your helicopter flying career Morgan: The images of the not even an ambulance. also includes flying for the U.S. Forest grandmother and baby during the We placed the grandmother on the Service (USFS) during one fire season. Kanab, Utah, flight have always been litter and placed an oxygen mask over Can you tell us about that experience? with me. Flying a helicopter for the her face. Dick rode in the back holding utility company for 11 years was a the baby. And off we flew, back into Morgan: The USFS firefighters are significant way to help healthy people the snowstorm, landing in Salt Lake awesome. They can eat nails and spit do difficult tasks. This type of flying City. tacks. was rewarding, yes, but not even close I swore if I could ever be involved Obviously, the best time to put out to the potential benefits a medical with a first-class medical team in a fire is when it first starts. Helicopters patient would receive with similar an aircraft with the best medical play a key role in placing the right flying. equipment available, that is what I people with the right tools and a little By 1979, after our daughter was wanted to do. water in the right place ASAP when married and our son had joined the a fire is discovered. Some people Marines, I decided if I was ever going HFI: Air Methods is still growing. How think using helicopters is overdoing to start a medical helicopter service, big should it be? it but the fact remains, it is by far the the time was right. least expensive and provides the best Morgan: I have never considered outcome. HFI: Did you consider the uphill task putting a lid on the company. Our of starting a new service as a lone board of directors, our CEO Aaron HFI: You were hired as the only helicopter pilot with no helicopter, Todd, and the entire team are totally helicopter pilot for a utility company staff, FAA approvals, or for that committed to safety and good in Colorado. The work involved matter, no track record? service, patient care, and appropriate power-line construction, inspection, shareholder earnings. Do those things and maintenance. What did you learn Morgan: I had an idea. The plan was right, and growth will follow. from this experience that you later simple. I would take out a second applied to your EMS work? mortgage on our house, sell the HFI: What were the personal sacrifices camper and pickup truck, sell our you took to grow the company? Morgan: Flying year-round in the stock in , empty our mountains of Colorado is an ongoing bank account, and sell everything we Morgan: I do not think of sacrifices, I education. Respect the weather, could do without. see opportunities. A person may need terrain, environment, equipment, and The hospital would pay the first to try extra hard to accomplish their your own limitations. and last two months of fixed fees in goals. Sometimes they are easier to advance, which, added to my funds, achieve if you do not know they are HFI: When did the urge to fly medical would be applied toward a down impossible. helicopters become overwhelming? payment on a helicopter and would

4 ©2016 Helicopter Association International. provide a little operating money. each sustaining contributor signed. In between 1982 and 1988. Additional The plan sounded good to me. addition, I added Austin Clark and sites included Denver; Texarkana, However, after presenting it to several Ralph Mulford, two wonderful silent Arkansas; Minneapolis/St. Paul; Bend, hospitals, they all said, “No, and if investment partners. Oregon; Salt Lake City; Des Moines, we wanted to start such a program, it Sister was now on board with the Iowa; Jackson, Mississippi; and an would not be with you — you do not idea but would not sign a contract additional helicopter based in Denver. even have a helicopter.” because I still did not have a helicopter. HFI: Since the beginning, how many HFI: After several conversations patients would you say Air Methods with Lou Goodhart, the manager of HFI: You still had some work to do to has transported? emergency services for St. Mary’s make it all happen. Hospital in Grand Junction, Colorado, Morgan: Air Methods has flown about you proposed a new start-up idea. Lou Morgan: Darrell Maitlen, a Bell 2 million patients. arranged a meeting with Sister Mary Helicopter salesman, was an excellent Our priorities are safety first, Alloys, the hospital administrator. mentor and helped with business, quality patient care, and to earn How did that meeting go? FAA, financing, and many other issues. shareholder value so that we can Air Methods, the new company, grow to serve others. Another key to Morgan: I explained my original purchased a brand-new Bell our success is that we employ highly plan to Sister Alloys and then asked LongRanger II with factory-installed qualified, talented, and experienced permission to contact businesses in full IFR [instrument flight rules], people and listen to them. All pilots the area for contributions to be paid autopilot, and state-of-the art avionics. must be IFR rated, even on VFR directly to the hospital to help pay for The aircraft was fully equipped and contracts. the program. outfitted with the very best dedicated All of our EMS helicopters are She very politely said no, there medical interior. well-appointed with night-vision were other things she wanted before I flew the helicopter from Dallas/Ft. goggles and related equipment. All a helicopter. She saw this venture as Worth on August 29, 1980, and landed aircraft must be IFR equipped, even competing with her attempts to get the new helicopter at St. Mary’s on VFR contracts. money from the same sources. Hospital in Grand Junction. It was late All of our Air Methods associates at night. The helicopter’s arrival was in their respective positions are HFI: You were persistent. You greeted by a huge crowd that included dedicated directly or indirectly to returned and presented another TV and media coverage. It was a the highest level of patient care that option, first to Lou Goodhart and later wonderful beginning. will result in a quality of life after to Sister Mary Alloys. what may have been a catastrophic You mentioned that there were HFI: When did you actually begin outcome. We are the patient’s oil and oil shale companies, uranium operations? “Defenders of Tomorrow.” mines, coal companies, and other operations in the area that were Morgan: The portable medical HFI: Air Methods operates out of suffering from a bad public image as equipment and supplies were three service models: hospital based, a result of their building roads that installed that night. The very next day, community based, and alternative created dust and smoke and from August 30, we completed medical delivery. Can you briefly describe the other undesirable consequences flight crew safety training, and that role of each model? related to their activities. night, we flew our first patient. You promised not to seek In the first month, we flew Morgan: In the , the contributions. You just wanted to talk 30 patients. In the first two months, original dedicated medical helicopter to their marketing departments. Your the helicopter made 55 flights. Forty programs were hospital based — plan was to offer to paint a stripe all percent of those transports were night contracted and located at the hospitals the way around the helicopter and put flights. From Day One, Air Methods which they served. The aircraft pilots, the contributors’ names on it. Every was the first hospital-based medical mechanics, and FAA 135 operations week, the hospital would run a full- helicopter program in the United were typically provided by the page newspaper ad saying “St. Mary’s States to be FAA 135 IFR certified. helicopter operator. The medical Air Life would like to thank the teams, communications, billing, and following sustaining contributors for HFI: Other hospitals came on board. collecting were all accomplished by the making this program possible.” hospital. Morgan: The St. Mary’s contract was The community-based programs Morgan: Sister said she did not think followed by another Air Life — an Air came later. In this model, Air it would work but that I could try. All Methods trade name — program for Methods is an independent medical- contributions would go directly to the the North Colorado Medical Center in care provider. The entire program hospital. Greely, Colorado, in 1982. — aircraft, pilots, mechanics, flight I developed a letter of intent, which Eight more programs were added nurses, paramedics, communications,

©2016 Helicopter Association International. 5 billing, and collecting — are all provided by Air Methods. This allows Air Methods to serve every hospital and HEMS requirement within a community and beyond. The alternative-delivery model may include various combinations of hospital-based and community- based services and contracts.

HFI: Over the years, Air Methods has expanded its presence through a number of acquisitions including ARCH Air Medical, Baptist LifeFlight, Blue Hawaiian, CJ Systems Aviation Group, Mercy Air Services, Omniflight Helicopters, Rocky Mountain Helicopters, and Sundance Helicopters. Additionally, the company has 300 bases of operations, eight maintenance centers, a national operations control center, a John L. Garrison, who at the time was president and CEO of Bell Helicopter, presented national communications center, Morgan with the Vertical Flight Hall of Fame award statuette in 2013. and Direct Patient Logistics. Because coordination is strong relationships with referral rewarding experience of my life. The key to Air Method’s safety and markets through efficiency and flight nurses and paramedics are the service commitment, what do the consistency, while improving internal heroes, and it is a privilege to work communication systems provide? communication between departments with them. Every flight is special, and physicians. especially for the patient and their Morgan: The operations control families and friends. center in Denver operates around HFI: Medical helicopters normally fly the clock, every day of the year. only seriously ill or injured patients, HFI: You made a point of visiting It provides support for our pilots many with life-threatening conditions. people who you transported to before and during a flight and allows This can be very stressful. hospitals. maintaining operational control of the fleet at all times. Morgan: Indeed. However, good Morgan: Patients are usually happy The Air Methods communications results outweigh stress. We have some to meet you, perhaps for the first center, AirCom, located in of the best pilots, flight nurses, and time to truly see and meet you. Omaha, Nebraska, is our national paramedics in the world. Caring for a Whenever possible, it is nice to know communications center that takes calls seriously ill newborn, trauma patient, how a patient is recovering and learn from communities as remote as Death or ill patient within the “golden from them and their families how Valley and as urban as Atlanta. This hour” while bringing the patient to to improve patient care. Everyone is the helicopter medical team’s point the proper medical facility is very involved wants to know if the patient of contact for medical first responders gratifying. Seeing patients going home is doing well, including the first and transfer requests, and the pilot’s from the hospital with their families is responders, the ambulance crews, landing zone coordinator with highway special. firefighters, sheriff deputies, highway patrol, sheriff, fire, rescue, and other patrol, and certainly the helicopter first responders. HFI: During your flying career, you flight crew, mechanics, and every Air Direct Patient Logistics is have been involved in a number of Methods associate. the solution to eliminating the rescues and lifesaving transports. Meeting every patient and provider frustrating maze of phone calls What are some of the ones that stand is not possible; it is just good to share sometimes necessary to facilitate a out to you? when you can. patient transfer. Based in Omaha, our professionally staffed facility is Morgan: Flying a medical helicopter HFI: You were involved and supported available 24/7 and your “one stop” with flight nurses and flight [humanitarian organization] shop. Our goal is to aid our customers paramedics that are providing Operation Blessing’s flying hospital in establishing and maintaining lifesaving medical care is the most on its initial mission to El Salvador.

6 ©2016 Helicopter Association International. During a 17-day visit, the flying of “Civil Helicopter Operators of Douglas County, Colorado. hospital treated more than 7,000 Charter and Scheduled Service” at patients. More than 100 surgeries NASA Ames in San Jose, California. HFI: You are a member of the Twirly were performed on the aircraft, and In 2000, I participated in the Birds. When, where, and in what another 250 at a nearby hospital. Federal Aviation Safety Counselor helicopter model did you solo? Can you speak about your Presentations at the 2000 Air Fair in involvement in this airborne outreach Denver. My presentation topic was Morgan: My first helicopter solo was effort? Are there other humanitarian “Flyers and Wires.” March 17, 1965, in Salt Lake City in a operations that you have been And in 2009, I served as keynote Hughes 300. involved in? speaker at the China International Medical Equipment Fair at the HFI: What other memberships do you Morgan: It was an honor and New International Convention and hold or have you held? humbling experience for Air Methods Exposition Center in Chengdu, China. to design, engineer, and build the My presentation was on “The Need Morgan: HAI [Helicopter medical interior for Operation for Medical Helicopters in China.” Association International], ALEA Blessing’s Lockheed L-1011. Marilyn [Airborne Law Enforcement Pauley and Mike Slattery, now HFI: You are now retired but still Association], AOPA [Aircraft president of United Rotorcraft, a serve as an Air Methods outside Owners and Pilots Association], division of Air Methods, were the two consultant. EAA [Experimental Aircraft most important Air Methods people Association], NBAA [National involved. Morgan: That is correct. I report Business Aircraft Association], The flying hospital is the largest directly to Aaron Todd, Air Methods Colorado Pilots Association, fully equipped, self-contained airborne chief executive officer. Colorado Aviation Historical Society, hospital ever built, representing AAMS [Association of Air Medical an innovative combination of HFI: You have received a number of Services], and MedEvac Foundation international aviation experience and awards and honors. Can you name International. medical technology, and featuring a few? a three-station surgical suite; a HFI: Any hobbies? 12-bed pre/postoperative area; a Morgan: In 2013, I was inducted into dental/eye, ear, nose, and throat the Vertical Flight Hall of Fame at Morgan: Anything having to do with suite; a pharmacy; and a classroom the Living Legends Awards in Beverly aviation. seating section for 67 medical Hills, California. In 2014, I was professionals. The aircraft is also inducted into the Colorado Aviation HFI: What advice do you have for equipped with oxygen generation and Hall of Fame in Denver, and also in today’s young men and women water purification systems, satellite 2014, I was honored to receive the who will become tomorrow’s pilots communications, and an upgraded Living Legends of Aviation Award at and maintenance professionals, avionics suite. the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills. particularly those interested in helicopter EMS service? HFI: You have written a number HFI: You have achieved much. You of papers and articles for meetings, saw a need and dared to fill it with Morgan: By the time I was 9 years old, presentations, and publications. Can little more than a dream. I found out if you are hungry, you had you name a few? better get a job. Those early days were Morgan: I have been blessed. My valuable lessons in life. Morgan: In 1983, I wrote “IFR Low, earliest dreams were to have a family I am so lucky to be an American. All the Way” for HAI. In 1987, I wrote and to fly. I have both. I have flown a If I had been born in most other and presented a paper titled “Now variety of helicopters, airplanes, and countries, I would still be scrubbing More Than Ever: Vertical Flight sailplanes. floors. Training” for American Helicopter Dorothy and I have been married When I got married, I had $50 and Society (AHS) at their meeting in for 60-plus years. We are proud of a worn-out car. Impossible isn’t, if you Arlington, Texas. our two children. Both are married. do not know it is impossible. In 1992, I wrote and delivered Deborah and her husband, Cliff, live “Do what you do … do well.” another paper on “The Roles of close by and assist as Alzheimer’s Surround yourself with good people Helicopters in EMS Operations” caregivers for Dorothy. Our son, and listen to them. for the AHS meeting in Montreal, Roger, and wife, Leslie, live in Castle Canada. In August 1997, I wrote Rock, Colorado. Martin J. Pociask “EMS in USA” for Air Ambulance by We have three wonderful is curator for the Shepherd Press, Burnham, Bucks, grandchildren: Lindsey, 30; Caroline, Helicopter Foundation United Kingdom. 29; and John, 28, all of whom live International. In 1998, I presented on the subject within 30 miles of our home in

©2016 Helicopter Association International. 7 Helicopter Foundation International 1920 Ballenger Avenue, Alexandria, VA 22314-2898 703-683-4646 | [email protected] www.helicopterfoundation.org