Labcorp Pilatuses
Posted by Newyew22@reddit | aviation | View on Reddit | 7 comments
For some time, I’ve been curious about the fleet of PC-12s that Labcorp (SKQ) deploys from KBUY every night up and down the East Coast. What’s their mission specifically? Are they going to pick up specimens to bring back to the lab in Burlington?
LAN_Geek@reddit
Interesting! This had me really curious. What lab study is so expensive that a fleet of planes is more cost effective than the purchase of multiple setups to do the study? Perhaps it's a facility concern and not a question of equipment.
supernaut_707@reddit
There are a range of tests for uncommon conditions, rare cancers, etc that are done so infrequently it makes no sense for an institution to pay for an analyzer for it. Places like Labcorp or Quest will run these at a central location where shipped specimens can be batched for efficiency. Some academic hospitals also do this kind of testing but use commercial shippers instead; you just don't ship over the weekend or a holiday since the specimens have to be kept in a temperature range for stability.
Disastrous_Pay8168@reddit
Look up what labcorp is and you will understand
BrtFrkwr@reddit
Plural would be "Pilati."
Newyew22@reddit (OP)
Doggone it, you’re right.
StuckHedgehog@reddit
Specimens and samples. They have a courier that flies into my city every evening. They often need to transfer samples from the more generalized hospital labs they own to the specialized facilities they operate. It’s expensive to set up the required instruments, staff, maintenance, etc so they don’t create those speciality testing areas at every location they own.
bk553@reddit
Yup, boxes of specimens. They fly all over the country. We had them at KSUS at night when I worked there a decade ago. I think they were using Caravans and some MU-2's back then.