Heelicopter soars as sign of safety and school spirit

Even UNC Hospitals shows its school spirit — in the form of a heelprint design on the bottom of the helicopters.

Carolina Air Care provides critical care transport for patients around North Carolina to UNC Medical Center in Chapel Hill by air operation and provides ground transport as well.

Currently, there are two helicopters operating 24/7, with one based out of Siler City and the other out of Fayetteville to better provide services for the entire state.

Besides the Carolina blue, white and navy colors on the body of the helicopter, there is a distinctive heel design on the bottom.

Last month, UNC graduate Jason Smith posted a photo of one of the helicopters on the Facebook group Overheard at UNC after the heelprint design piqued his interest.

“I think I took that picture last fall. I’ve had it in my stash of images for a while and was going through old pictures the other day and saw that one,” he said. “I had never really seen the bottom of it.”

Smith said he didn’t realize the helicopter had a heelprint design on the bottom until he looked back at the photo.

“I think it’s interesting,” he said. “I don’t know that most people would notice it or ever see that it was there.”

Derek Chrisco, a Carolina Air Care flight nurse and UNC graduate, said nearly 30 years ago the bottom of the helicopters used to be a solid white color until a mechanic decided to add a unique design.

“The mechanic said, ‘Well, we need to have something on there,’” Chrisco said.

This mechanic hand painted a Tar Heel heelprint on the bottom, inspired by designs he had seen from Wake Forest and Duke hospitals.

The design now appears on every new helicopter since the late 1980s, although it is done professionally.

Chrisco said the design reinforces the hospitals’ connection to UNC and makes the helicopters recognizable.

“It’s largely decorative,” he said. “But it’s the thought that that’s what people see when it’s landing,” he said. “You recognize it’s UNC.”

The two helicopters in Carolina Air Care’s fleet are called A61 and A62 but are more commonly known as Tar Heel 1 and Tar Heel 2, respectively.

Despite the design not being very noticeable, many are still able to associate it with the University.

First-year Tamara Royster said the design shows school spirit and solidarity.

“I automatically think back to here,” she said.

Royster said she also credits the helicopters and UNC for saving her young niece who was airlifted to UNC Hospitals for a medical complication.

“Even when I wasn’t a student here, I could recognize it,” she said. “I affiliated it with the University.”

Chrisco said the heelprint has become a recognizable trademark.

“There’s always that connection between health care and the schools,” he said. “You have pride for where you work and who you work for.”

@MariaMullis2017

arts@dailytarheel.com