From Lead to "Intern" and Back: An Inspiring Approach to Learning and DevelopmentHow a simple initiative led to a once-in-a-lifetime experience at ADAC Luftrettung.

October 17, 2023|

Share

Continuous growth is a founding pillar of our work at Volocopter, as we believe that behind every success, there is a team feeling empowered to learn and develop. For this reason, every employee in our team has a yearly learning budget to enhance their work-related skills.   

How does this work? Employees engage in development talks with their respective managers and explore possibilities for future learning and growth. Usually, they begin by reviewing a selection of pre-approved courses tailored to their work needs. If the course catalog doesn’t fit with their goals, employees can opt for something completely different and decide on a way forward together with their managers.  

The learning budget is an excellent motivator for employees as it creates a sense of ownership to improve professionally and personally. At the same time, the learning budget is one of the most practical means to create a thriving work environment here at Volocopter. 

Within this environment, one of our team members took initiative to do something different with his learning budget this year: interning at Germany’s most iconic emergency medical service provider, ADAC Luftrettung. 

When There Is Flexibility, There Is Pragcellence

Ralf Frisch, Partnership Management Team Lead at Volocopter, has been working since 2019 with ADAC Luftrettung, one of our long-term partners with whom we're collaborating to make eVTOLs in emergency medical services a reality. For context, ADAC Luftrettung is the emergency medical service of the ADAC Foundation and operates one of the largest fleets of rescue helicopters in Europe. Ralf's need to further understand the complex layers behind the work ADAC Luftrettung does to save people's lives led him to talk to his manager and see if he could use his learning budget to join the "Yellow Angels" as an intern. One thing led to another, and Ralf started his internship in a matter of weeks.

Ralf's initiative to use his learning budget to get to know the work of ADAC Luftrettung signifies something we value greatly at Volocopter: "Pragcellence." Composed of pragmatism and excellence, "Pragcellence" embodies the idea that everyone in our team strives for excellence in everything we do and takes a pragmatic approach to achieving it.

We've asked Ralf a couple of questions about his pragcellent approach to learning and development. Here's what he had to say:

1. How did you come up with the idea of using your Volocopter learning budget to conduct your internship at ADAC Luftrettung?

Everything happened very spontaneously. I have been working with ADAC Luftrettung for the past four years, and during all these years, I felt the need to experience their life-saving efforts firsthand. Most importantly, considering that our next-generation aircraft will shuttle doctors to emergency sites in the not-so-far future, I thought using my learning budget would be a great way to understand how we can further adapt our Volocopter solutions to improve ADAC Luftrettung’s rescue efforts. When I presented the idea to my manager, Michael, he cheered my initiative – so my journey started!

2. So, what was it like to intern at the ADAC Luftrettung?

The team at ADAC Luftrettung managed to put together a comprehensive program for me to learn as much as possible about their work. One day, I had the chance to visit the emergency hotline operator at the firefighter's emergency call center in Munich. Another day, I spent time with an emergency doctor on the road. I then went on for three more days at Bonn-Hangelar airport to learn about the type rating process of a helicopter and the pilot training from the ADAC HEMS Academy GmbH, the Helicopter Emergency Medical Services training organization of ADAC Luftrettung. I also gained insights into helicopter maintenance through ADAC Heliservice. Finally, my internship at ADAC Luftrettung ended with a cherry on top. I flew in an emergency medical service helicopter! This was the highlight of my experience. It also gave me a clear vision of the potential of using Volocopter's eVTOL for rescue missions.

3. You said flying was the highlight of your experience, but were there any other highlights during your internship? Something that struck you the most?

To be frank, every day at ADAC Luftrettung was a highlight. However, the day I spent with the emergency doctor on the road will always have a place in my memories. That day, we helped six patients. In one of the cases, we were the first to arrive at the site of a severe accident where a car hit a motorcycle. There, I witnessed the strong collaboration between the emergency driver, doctor, paramedics, firefighters, and police forces. But also the future use case for our VoloCity – bringing the emergency doctor to the accident scene.

Another day I want to highlight is the day I spent with the emergency dispatch operators. In Germany, when you dial 112, dispatch operators answer the calls and support people via phone. Being the first contact point between the people in need and the rescue vehicles with doctors, one can imagine how hard their work can be. But being there with them, I witnessed the high professionalism emergency dispatch operators hold to respond to those calls. Keep in mind – they receive an average of 3,000 daily calls. I was amazed by the versatility of calls ADAC Luftrettung receives, ranging from "Help, my dog got stuck in the car!" to the need to complete a live reanimation on the phone. Imagine, while I was there, one of ADAC Luftrettung's dispatchers helped a person via telephone to complete a reanimation! Truly amazing.

4. Truly inspiring these moments. Can you also provide us with some details about your helicopter flight? (We are quite the flying enthusiasts, as you may know.)

I joined the Christoph 8 crew in a small town in Germany called Lünen for one day. It was truly remarkable, and as I said in one of my LinkedIn posts, I had goosebumps, plus the weather was perfect! We had three flights with the rescue team that day. During one of these flights, the helicopter brought the emergency doctor to an incident site, a mission for which our VoloCity aircraft would be a perfect fit. On another flight, the helicopter transported a person in need to the nearest hospital.

5. What are some key insights you've gained during this internship?

I encountered people from different departments at ADAC Luftrettung, including emergency doctors, emergency doctor drivers, helicopter pilots, helicopter maintenance crew, and many more. With them, I discussed the potential use of Volocopter's aircraft in rescue services and understood what else Volocopter can do to support these operations in the future.

For instance, during my visit to the ADAC Heliservice, I experienced first-hand how a helicopter works and when maintenance intervals are applied. This allowed me to understand the potential of Volocopter's aircraft, seeing how complex a conventional helicopter is and how much effort is needed for maintenance. I also had the chance to discuss the implications of lower maintenance requirements for our VoloCity aircraft with the team at ADAC Heliservice.

On another instance, I joined a two-hour night flight in a full motion simulator in which an ADAC Luftrettung pilot needed to perform a mission to rescue a person injured from an industrial fire. I can tell you something for sure: the instructor gave the pilot a hard time training as he stimulated a lot of engine failures of turbines, generators, and heavy clouds! On top of this, in his role as TC-Hems, the instructor even simulated a scenario in which he fainted to see the pilot’s reaction.

6. Do you have anything else you want to add?

My so-called internship at ADAC Luftrettung is something I will always remember. It made me understand more about the fragility of being a human, but at the same time, it gave me hope and made me feel so thankful to see how many dedicated people work 24/7 to save people's lives. I felt very proud knowing that at some point in the future, Volocopter's next-generation VoloCity aircraft will support the ADAC Luftrettung team in emergency situations. I am also thankful to my manager, colleagues at Volocopter, and partners at ADAC Luftrettung for supporting my initiative, which could become a best practice to forge deeper relationships with our partners across the company.

One Final Note: Living By Our Core Values

With a team of 500+ people – coming from every corner of the world – Volocopter hopes to share more inspiring stories like Ralf's on our way to bringing urban air mobility to life. Ralf has been living up to one of our core values as he found the most "pragcellent" solution to develop his knowledge and learn more about our partner ADAC Luftrettung. Stories like his are worth sharing, as they teach us the importance of a positive and empowering working environment.

If you want to learn more about our partnership with ADAC Luftrettung, click here. And if you're eager to kick-start your career at Volocopter, visit our career site.