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submitted 2 years ago by FlyingSquid@lemmy.world to c/news@lemmy.world

Six motorcyclists rode into Death Valley National Park on July 6. Only five came out alive. With temperatures reaching 128 degrees Fahrenheit in California, the cyclists faced extreme heat exposure that killed one and sent another to a local hospital, according to the National Park Service.

When there’s a medical emergency like this, helicopters are typically dispatched to get people to a hospital. However, the extreme heat made it impossible for the helicopters to fly.

The next day, an emergency helicopter pilot in Stanford, California had to cancel a flight because the tarmac near a patient was too hot for him to land. As reported by The Washington Post on Wednesday, the pilot said he’d never seen temperatures this bad in his 27-year career.

Extreme heat, as many across the U.S. are experiencing this summer, can cause computer and mechanical systems on board helicopters to overheat and malfunction. But it’s not just a mechanical issue as air pressure is also a factor. Air expands when it’s hot and contracts when it’s cold. As it gets hotter outside, air pressure plummets. The air literally gets thin which means that spinning helicopter blades have less air to cut through and it’s harder for them to achieve lift. That makes it dangerous, and sometimes impossible, to fly.

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[-] ignirtoq@fedia.io 97 points 2 years ago

People need to start changing their behavior about this heat. I know this sounds like victim blaming. I know people shouldn't have to change their behavior because we saw global warning coming for 30 years and should have prevented this from happening. But it's happening. You can't go into Death Valley in the summer anymore. You just can't. Please don't put yourself in this position.

It's a tragedy that this death happened. We absolutely need to adapt our emergency services to this heat to try to prevent something like this from happening again. But we also need to change our behaviors so we don't end up in that position in the first place.

[-] Killer57@lemmy.ca 27 points 2 years ago

Man, it's almost like it's called Death Valley for a reason or something

[-] ChickenLadyLovesLife@lemmy.world 10 points 2 years ago

You can still ride safely in Mild Bummer Valley.

[-] Psythik@lemmy.world 5 points 2 years ago

Yeah but judging by the success of Liquid Death water, there is a certain group of people who are attracted to things with morbid names.

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this post was submitted on 13 Jul 2024
343 points (98.6% liked)

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