Flying ambulance: new vehicle designed to save lives

Rafi Yoeli, founder of Urban Aeronautics and had once worked for Boeing and Israeli Aerospace Industries, is currently building a new type of battlefield ambulance able to rescue wounded soldiers where land vehicles and bulky helicopters can’t get to.

Dubbed the “Mule,” the vehicle Yoeli has designed is sort of what you’ll get if you cross a sled with a hovercraft. Light and fast, these little critters land and take off vertically, making it ideal and strategic for its purpose: search and rescue amidst the chaos and danger of a full on battle.

Each Mule can carry two persons at a time and is controlled by air flow instead of being entirely dependent on surfaces. It requires no driver and can speed up to 100 mph without passengers. It has been raised that a patient being transported with proper medical care while on the vehicle would be dangerous, but it was pointed out that there might be no other alternative, especially if the patient is in critical condition.

Janina Frankel-Yoeli, Rafi Yoeli’s wife and marketing director, says that there might be some psychological factors that might affect the Mule’s task. “The problem is overcoming the natural fear of entering a vehicle without a pilot,” he added, but both civilian and military outfits in the US and other countries have already shown interest.

Image by Peter Bollinger.

Via PopSci via CNN

Rafi Yoeli, founder of Urban Aeronautics and had once worked for Boeing and Israeli Aerospace Industries, is currently building a new type of battlefield ambulance able to rescue wounded soldiers where land vehicles and bulky helicopters can’t get to.

Dubbed the “Mule,” the vehicle Yoeli has designed is sort of what you’ll get if you cross a sled with a hovercraft. Light and fast, these little critters land and take off vertically, making it ideal and strategic for its purpose: search and rescue amidst the chaos and danger of a full on battle.

Each Mule can carry two persons at a time and is controlled by air flow instead of being entirely dependent on surfaces. It requires no driver and can speed up to 100 mph without passengers. It has been raised that a patient being transported with proper medical care while on the vehicle would be dangerous, but it was pointed out that there might be no other alternative, especially if the patient is in critical condition.

Janina Frankel-Yoeli, Rafi Yoeli’s wife and marketing director, says that there might be some psychological factors that might affect the Mule’s task. “The problem is overcoming the natural fear of entering a vehicle without a pilot,” he added, but both civilian and military outfits in the US and other countries have already shown interest.

Image by Peter Bollinger.

Via PopSci via CNN