Perhaps it's my bias but I would prefer more episodes of Emergency that handled hour-long stories, rather than multiple paramedic calls. This one came pretty close, with a dramatic mid-air heart attack. Plus John's attempt to establish a relationship with a stewardess he meets on the flight from Sacramento to LAX provides a unifying thread from beginning to end.
Alas, rather than setting the story up, it starts in mid-flight as John bores the woman with tales of heroic rescues he's performed. Until one of the passengers needs medical attention she thinks he's made the stories up as a way to make a pass at her. The rest of the first 1/2 hour is devoted to treating a passenger suffering a heart attack with the plane's first aid kit, retrieving their regular equipment from the baggage compartment and establishing communications with Rampart. Gates and DeSoto get to treat the victim first on the plane and then in an ambulance en route to Rampart. Then the ER staff take over and the paramedics off to 2 more not very interesting calls before the final credits roll.
I liked the way progressively more sophisticated treatments from the plane's very limited first aid kit to working in a well-equipped ambulance to hospital emergency room were shown. But, sadly, the writers gave up an interesting chance to show the guys' reactions to each other under slowly increasing tension. It would also have been a good episode in which to demonstrate their interactions with the flight crew, the passengers (where did they all disappear to during the medical emergency and why wasn't there a seat-belt announcement before landing?), the other paramedics and ambulance driver, and the hospital staff.
I can understand that Emergency did not have a huge budget for guest stars. OTOH, an episode that gave guest cast a chance to say more than a few lines and act might have been improved the show. As it was Emergency opted for its "extra with a few lines of dialog" approach to supporting cast.
