Prince William opened up about his experiences as an air ambulance pilot in a rare interview and special with the BBC. The Duke of Cambridge, 34, signed a two-year contract with East Anglian Air Ambulance in March 2015.
“I look forward to coming here every day, whether it’s 5:30 a.m. or going to bed at 2 a.m. The shift work is exciting. … And the fact that I love working in a team. That’s something my other job doesn’t necessarily do,” the father of two said. “When I put my air ambulance hat on, and I come here and I fly, I’m one of the team.”
Prince William’s day job is a busy one. He takes phone calls and trains and debriefs colleagues while waiting for rescues — which, as he describes, are sometimes “sad, dark” situations.
“What this aircraft brings is … a ‘critical care’ paramedic and … doctor to the scene — a lot faster than you could possibly do by road or by any other means. It’s effectively bringing a hospital to the casualty,” he explained. “Our main aim is just to get [the medics] there as safely and as quickly as possible. And they take over and do all the hero stuff.”
According to the BBC, the team has previously helped a passenger who was stuck under a vehicle, a victim who was hit by a train in their Land Rover and a teenager who was thrown from her horse.
The tough moments have brought the team closer together. “If you share the same, in some cases, sad incidents, then you can get over it together by being able to talk about it in the future,” he said. “Being a close team, you come away with a collective way of dealing with it together and it helps you move on to whatever you’ve got to do next.”
