We have worked with Bicton Horse Trials to improve response times using the what3words app
Bicton Arena is recognised as the leading equestrian venue in the Southwest of England. The British leg of the FEI Eventing Nations Cup 2025 was hosted at Bicton, Devon on 22 – 25 May and local charity, Devon Air Ambulance, are proud to have supported the emergency services plan for this popular event.
When a serious fall at Bicton International Horse Trials occurred in May 2023, the HEMS (Helicopter Emergency Medical Services) Desk despatched the Devon Air Ambulance (DAA) Helicopter to the incident.
Although given the site details by the HEMS Desk, Capt. Rich Tate, Senior Pilot, who was first on scene, found it hard to find where the precise incident was located. Due to the incident occurring under tree cover, the on-site land ambulance and injured rider were all hidden from his aerial view.
Delays such as these can take up valuable time as the helicopter has to orbit above the whole site to ascertain the best place to land. It was also stressful for the crew as they knew the rider needed their urgent care. Once Rich managed to locate and land it was quickly established that they needed to bring in the second helicopter for further medical back up, a much swifter process since an ideal landing location had now been identified.
Following every incident that Devon Air Ambulance attends, the crew including the Pilot discuss the details of the flight, the treatment given to their patient and the location to talk about their observations and give feedback to each other that might improve our access or performance on similar missions in the future.
Rich and his colleague Sue who looks after pre-surveyed landing sites for the organisation discussed exactly this and set about trying to find a better way to locate fallen riders in this location.
We came up with the idea that as every fence on the cross country course has a dedicated fence judge, already armed with a list of information to hand, by simply adding the what3words location to each jump, the judge would be able to inform the HEMS desk dispatchers of this unique code, equipping them with the precise location of the fall. In turn this would mean that the pilot can go swiftly and directly to the exact incident location as possible
Sue Fallon, Flight Operations Administrator for Devon Air Ambulance
Helen West, Co-Director at Bicton fully embraced this idea, and for October 2024’s International Horse trials Helen collated the relevant what3words for each jump. This information was shared with every jump judge, Chief Steward and First Aider in attendance as well as Devon Air Ambulance and the HEMS desk ahead of the event.
Capt Rich Tate added
what3words references are significantly better, and indeed a game changer, for any incident as it pins down the landing spot to a 3-metre area rather than a grid reference which can be up to 100 square metre + location point. This means that all the onboard flight equipment can be programmed quickly and efficiently directing me or any other pilot to the exact location, saving critical time in conveying the medical team straight to the patient.
This simple addition to the pre-planning of any event could prove vital in getting the right resource to the exact location as efficiently and safely as possible in the event of an accident or incident.
Helen West commented
‘Eventing is a high-risk sport, and we are incredibly grateful to DAA for the support they have provided to us and our competitors over the past few years. We are always looking to improve and enhance our SIM (Safety & Incident Management) protocols and over the past 12 months we have been working closely with DAA to look at how we can speed up the landing of air ambulance helicopters should an accident occur.
Providing what3words references really does give us greater confidence of being able to get the right treatment to patient in the quickest timeframe. I honestly believe this could be a game changer and would urge other events (both British Eventing affiliated events as well as non-equestrian events) to do the same. Don’t just think of W3W as a geographic tool for use for individual emergencies, it plays a vital role in event safety planning for events, both large scale and small.’
