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30 June 2023
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Technology: Yorkshire Air Ambulance unveils two new £15m helicopters, UK
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UK’s Yorkshire Air Ambulance (YAA) has unveiled two new helicopters, bought with £15m of public donations. The Airbus H145 D3 helicopters are the first of their kind in the UK. The Helicopter is the first of its kind to come directly off the production line in Germany and into the UK. Each helicopters has five rotor blades, meaning it can lift more weight and carry more fuel, as well as providing a smoother ride, the Yorkshire Air Ambulance said.
The new model has a whole host of technologically advanced features that will make the service more efficient. Most noticeably, a five-bladed ridged main rotor, making the system simpler, lighter and easier to maintain than the previous rotor. The five-bladed rotor system will also help to significantly reduce vibrations, which will considerably improve ride quality for both patients and the crew.
In addition, the new aircraft has an integrated camera system which allows the pilot to see behind and below the aircraft, making take-offs and landings safer. With the addition of the cameras, crew will now be able to load patients into the Helicopter with the rotors still turning, allowing for a quicker and more efficient process for incidents where time is critical.
On-board Wi-Fi will also allow patient records to be updated in flight, and a cutting-edge secure communications system will also allow the crew to send patient data ahead to their destination hospital, allowing Doctors and Nurses at their destination hospital to start evaluating and assessing the patient before they arrive.
The new aircraft have a rear loading door allowing patients to be loaded directly in on wheeled stretchers.
In the cabin, the Yorkshire Air Ambulance doctors and paramedics are most excited about the new wheeled stretcher system that will make loading and unloading patients into the aircraft a much easier process, with the stretcher taking most of the weight of the patient, opposed to the manual lifting the crew are currently used to.
They will be based in Wakefield and Thirsk with the two existing aircraft, which began operations in 2016, retired from service over the next 12 months.
Paramedic Sammy Wills thanked everybody who had donated to help buy the new air ambulances. "The people of Yorkshire have done us proud. It's incredibly smooth. We can fly at night, we use the Night Vision Googles. The patients on board won't even feel us coming in to land now it is that smooth,” she said.
Pilot Colin Hawkesworth said the new helicopter "almost flies itself". "If patients have broken bones and things like that and they are suffering it just makes it a lot more comfortable for them as well," he said.
The charity was set up in 2000 and added a second air ambulance in 2007.
It is entirely funded by public donations and Yorkshire Air Ambulance said it need to raise £19 000 a day to keep operating.
Source: Yorkshire Air Ambulance, BBC
The new model has a whole host of technologically advanced features that will make the service more efficient. Most noticeably, a five-bladed ridged main rotor, making the system simpler, lighter and easier to maintain than the previous rotor. The five-bladed rotor system will also help to significantly reduce vibrations, which will considerably improve ride quality for both patients and the crew.
In addition, the new aircraft has an integrated camera system which allows the pilot to see behind and below the aircraft, making take-offs and landings safer. With the addition of the cameras, crew will now be able to load patients into the Helicopter with the rotors still turning, allowing for a quicker and more efficient process for incidents where time is critical.
On-board Wi-Fi will also allow patient records to be updated in flight, and a cutting-edge secure communications system will also allow the crew to send patient data ahead to their destination hospital, allowing Doctors and Nurses at their destination hospital to start evaluating and assessing the patient before they arrive.
The new aircraft have a rear loading door allowing patients to be loaded directly in on wheeled stretchers.
In the cabin, the Yorkshire Air Ambulance doctors and paramedics are most excited about the new wheeled stretcher system that will make loading and unloading patients into the aircraft a much easier process, with the stretcher taking most of the weight of the patient, opposed to the manual lifting the crew are currently used to.
They will be based in Wakefield and Thirsk with the two existing aircraft, which began operations in 2016, retired from service over the next 12 months.
Paramedic Sammy Wills thanked everybody who had donated to help buy the new air ambulances. "The people of Yorkshire have done us proud. It's incredibly smooth. We can fly at night, we use the Night Vision Googles. The patients on board won't even feel us coming in to land now it is that smooth,” she said.
Pilot Colin Hawkesworth said the new helicopter "almost flies itself". "If patients have broken bones and things like that and they are suffering it just makes it a lot more comfortable for them as well," he said.
The charity was set up in 2000 and added a second air ambulance in 2007.
It is entirely funded by public donations and Yorkshire Air Ambulance said it need to raise £19 000 a day to keep operating.
Source: Yorkshire Air Ambulance, BBC