Too Fat to Fly?

Today at 1 pm I got a page from Dennis, one of my chief residents. I called him back and he asked me how heavy I was. I told him 160 pounds, to which he responded "Good, you're flying to New York City." There was a child with severe cardiomyopathy (heart muscle not working) who needed to be flown to New York and Dennis was too heavy for the flight so I was going to get to go. I was pretty excited as I've been looking forward to flying in a helicopter at some point this year. Additionally, I would be flying over the Catskill Mountains and over New York City which would both be incredible views on a clear day. So I went over to the PICU, only to be told the helicopter crew had said now that the resident had to be 147 pounds or less. Apparently this was an extremely heavy child, who was needing heaving equipment to help him stay alive, and thus did not leave much room for extra weight. Very disappointing. Maybe next time.....