Overview
- Hyde County confirmed on Tuesday that a flight‑trained paramedic flew a single-seat Pivotal BlackFly eVTOL on two real 911 responses to deliver advanced life support.
- Paramedic Quinn Reece served as both pilot and sole advanced life‑support provider and carried a cardiac monitor, airway supplies and a primary response bag, reaching one patient about 20 minutes before an ambulance.
- The BlackFly is an ultralight that can land in small clearings but cannot carry patients and has limits on payload, range and weather tolerance compared with traditional medical helicopters.
- County EMS worked with Pivotal, Code Blue Resources and Akute Networks to build operating procedures and training, logging more than 300 training flights and coordinating with local stakeholders and the FAA.
- Officials call the missions an early proof of concept and a 'playbook' for scaling to more capable crewed eVTOLs and uncrewed logistics such as blood delivery, but wider use will hinge on consistent safety, clinical benefit and cost effectiveness.