The Sound of Life: Bob Carr’s Patient Story

October 24, 2024

“I had to laugh, because I’ve been a helicopter pilot all my life, and it was the first time I flew in the back of a helicopter. I’m usually the driver.” ~ Bob Carr, retired U.S. Army pilot, former LifeFlight patient

Most of LifeFlight of Maine’s patients do not remember the helicopter ride. Some will say that they wish they could remember, because they’ve always wanted to ride in one. Given the severity of illness or injury facing most of these patients, it is natural that their body and brain would block certain memories, even if they were not sedated.

Bob Carr, however, remembers his LifeFlight transport. He remembers thinking the stretcher in the aircraft could have been a few inches longer (he’s a tall guy), and he remembers that the person flying the aircraft that day was a retired US Coast Guard helicopter pilot. This detail reassured him. He remembers the faces of the LifeFlight clinicians who cared for him, and he remembers, most of all, the professionalism of the crew.

“There was no joking around,” Bob shared in a recent conversation. “The flight was incredibly smooth. I was very comfortable flying in the aircraft. I talked with the crew. I knew what the pilot’s credentials were and that was reassuring to me. I knew that his military experience made him an extremely professional pilot.”

Bob has spent his entire adult life around helicopters. As a young man, he joined the US Army, trained as a helicopter pilot, and then flew Heuys during the Vietnam War. When he returned to Fort Cavazos (formerly Fort Hood) in Texas, he flew helicopters as part of a military assistance program for civilian law enforcement. He later transferred to the New Hampshire Army National Guard, and earned his Airframe and Powerplant License, which is the mechanic’s certification required by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to perform maintenance on aircraft.

After leaving the military years later, Bob moved to Florida, where he began working with the local sheriff, who had acquired a decommissioned Heuy TH55 but didn’t have a pilot to fly it or a technician to maintain it. “I was familiar with those, because that was what I had been trained to fly in the Army,” Bob said. So, he joined as their pilot. As the sheriff’s air program expanded, more pilots were needed. “So,” Bob said, “I got my flight instructor rating to teach people how to fly.”

In the late 1990’s while still working in law enforcement in Florida, Bob had some medical issues that culminated in 1998 with an open-heart surgery. “I even taught my cardiologist how to fly after my surgery.” It was all Bob had to say about the incident.

In 2000, Bob retired from law enforcement, though he remained heavily involved in helicopter aviation. He volunteered with a group of fellow Vietnam War veterans who were restoring Hueys from that era. In 2004, the group took their aircraft on a national tour. They finally landed the aircraft, known as “America’s Huey 091,” on the National Mall in Washington, DC, and then donated it to the Smithsonian. Dozens of Vietnam veterans were involved, and the tour received national media attention. “After that,” Bob said, “I swore I was never going to fly again, because I could never top that. That was the best thing I could’ve ever done.”

“Then, the first time I’m flying in the back of a helicopter was on my way to Portland.” Bob had moved from Florida to Maine, where he had family. His mother was from Millinocket and his father was from Houlton. His niece, it turned out, was the head nurse in Maine Medical Center’s cardiology department. It was October 2022, and Bob was in the back of a LifeFlight of Maine helicopter flying from Millinocket Regional Hospital to Maine Med in Portland. He was experiencing cardiac issues, and his condition was critical.

Bob had been at his home in Millinocket when he began feeling ill. “I was struggling,” he recalls, “and I called 911. The Millinocket ambulance wasn’t available, so they had to call East Millinocket. The paramedic — Courtney Munger, I’ll never forget that name — she put those paddles on me.”

Courtney and the East Millinocket ambulance crew brought Bob to the nearest hospital. “Bob’s situation was a mutual aid call for us,” Courtney remembers. The sole ambulance Millinocket had at the time was transporting another patient. “We went to Millinocket Regional Hospital. Most of my transport times from East Millinocket were anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour. Kingman, Sherman, Staceyville— there’s a huge area up there that we cover.” Fortunately, Bob lived less than a mile from the hospital.

Courtney remembers the call, and she remembers Bob. “He’s just very genuine,” she said. “I remember talking to him about aviation on the way to the hospital. I think that was his way of being distracted. You would never have known how sick he actually was by the way he was talking. That decreases everyone’s stress level in a difficult situation.”

Courtney now serves as a paramedic and firefighter in Waterville. “Time is a huge factor for a lot of our patients,” she said. “The utilization of LifeFlight in our rural areas is a huge asset.”

Bob and his wife now live in Dover-Foxcroft. When we spoke recently, he answered the phone from under his kitchen sink, where he was halfway through installing a new faucet. When he’s not working on his house, he is building Adirondack chairs, like the one he made for Courtney Munger. He has plans to make one for the LifeFlight crew as well, but he has a few other projects to finish first.

“I look up and I see the green and white helicopter,” Bob said. “Every time that the aircraft flies into a community, it’s the sound of life coming to somebody. In Vietnam, it was the sound of freedom. LifeFlight is the sound of life. Most people I know, they say a quick prayer for whomever the patient is.”