Air Ambulances in the United States
Encyclopedia
List of air ambulances
The following is a list of notable Air AmbulanceAir ambulance
An air ambulance is an aircraft used for emergency medical assistance in situations where either a traditional ambulance cannot reach the scene easily or quickly enough, or the patient needs to be transported over a distance or terrain that makes air transportation the most practical transport....
s in the United States:
- Acadian AmbulanceAcadian AmbulanceAcadian Ambulance is an ambulance service that covers most of the state of Louisiana.Headquartered in Lafayette, Louisiana, Acadian Ambulance maintains a fleet of more than 200 ground ambulances, as well as eight medical transport helicopters and five fixed-wing aircraft that provide aerial...
& Air Med Services - Headquartered in Lafayette, LouisianaLafayette, LouisianaLafayette is a city in and the parish seat of Lafayette Parish, Louisiana, United States, on the Vermilion River. The population was 120,623 at the 2010 census...
,covers most of the state of LouisianaLouisianaLouisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
and parts of western MississippiMississippiMississippi is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi... - Air Evac - Arizona
- Air Evac LifeteamAir Evac LifeteamAir Evac EMS, Inc., operating as Air Evac Lifeteam , and Texas LifeStar , is an air ambulance company based in West Plains, Missouri.-History:...
- the largest medical transport program under one name, covers Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas and West Virginia. Also operates Texas LifeStar in Central TexasCentral TexasCentral Texas , is a region in the U.S. state of Texas. It is roughly bordered by San Marcos to Fredericksburg to Waco, and to Brenham, and includes the Austin–Round Rock, Killeen-Temple-Fort Hood, Bryan-College Station, and Waco metropolitan areas...
. - AirMed InternationalAirMed InternationalAirMed International, LLC, based in Birmingham, Alabama, is a fee for service air ambulance airline. The company was founded in 1987 as MEDjet International and renamed AirMed International in 2003. AirMed offers international service to all countries except for Iraq, North Korea, and Libya...
- Based in Birmingham, Alabama, AirMed provides international fixed wing service on a fee-for-service basis and as a pre-paid air ambulance membership program utilizing Hawker 800, Beechjet 400 and Learjet aircraft. - Air MethodsAir MethodsAir Methods, Corp. is the largest publicly owned emergency medical services helicopter operator in the United States, with a fleet of over 300 medical transport helicopters that average 85,000 transports and 100,000 flight hours per year as of December 2006....
- Largest US air ambulance operator - Angel FlightAngel FlightAngel Flight is the name used by a number of groups whose members provide free transportation for needy patients and perform other missions of community service...
- A nonprofit charity air medical transportation organization serving needy people and their families. Provides access to specialized medical evaluation, diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation. - ARCH Air Medical ServiceARCH Air Medical ServiceARCH Air Medical Service is an emergency medical service that provides critical care air ambulance service in Missouri, Illinois, and the surrounding regions. Air ambulance programs offer transport by helicopter or fixed-wing aircraft. ARCH Air was the twelfth program in the U.S...
- MissouriMissouriMissouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...
, IllinoisIllinoisIllinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
, and the surrounding regions. - Boston MedFlightBoston MedFlightBoston MedFlight is a non-profit organization that provides emergency scene response and emergent interfacility transfer in Eastern Massachusetts...
- CalstarCalstarCALSTAR is a nonprofit regional air ambulance company serving California and northern Nevada. It is currently the largest nonprofit air ambulance provider on the West Coast.-History:...
(California Shock Trauma Air Rescue) is a nonprofit regional air ambulanceAir ambulanceAn air ambulance is an aircraft used for emergency medical assistance in situations where either a traditional ambulance cannot reach the scene easily or quickly enough, or the patient needs to be transported over a distance or terrain that makes air transportation the most practical transport....
company serving California and northern Nevada. It is currently the largest nonprofit air ambulance provider on the West Coast. - CareFlightMiami Valley HospitalMiami Valley Hospital is a large urban hospital located in Dayton, Ohio and is a member of the Premier Health Partners network. The hospital has a second location named Miami Valley Hospital South in Centerville, Ohio. It currently has the Dayton region's only level I trauma center and also has a...
- serves the Dayton, OhioDayton, OhioDayton is the 6th largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County, the fifth most populous county in the state. The population was 141,527 at the 2010 census. The Dayton Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 841,502 in the 2010 census...
region and a 150 miles (241.4 km) radius to serve much of Southwest Ohio. Based at Miami Valley HospitalMiami Valley HospitalMiami Valley Hospital is a large urban hospital located in Dayton, Ohio and is a member of the Premier Health Partners network. The hospital has a second location named Miami Valley Hospital South in Centerville, Ohio. It currently has the Dayton region's only level I trauma center and also has a... - Critical Air MedicineCritical Air MedicineCritical Air Medicine is a charter air ambulance service operating from San Diego, California. Critical Air, Inc, the Texas-based rotor-wing operations division of Critical Air Medicine was sold to Air Evac Lifeteam...
- Doing business as Critical Air, is based in San Diego, California - DHART - Dartmouth-Hitchcock Advanced Response Team
- EastCareEastCareEastCare is the critical care mobile air and ground transport of University Health Systems of Eastern Carolina at Pitt County Memorial Hospital . It serves 29 counties in Eastern North Carolina and extends into Virginia. It is sponsored by PCMH and The Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina...
- University Health Systems of Eastern CarolinaUniversity Health Systems of Eastern CarolinaUniversity Health Systems of Eastern Carolina is a non-profit hospital system made up of eight hospitals in 29 counties in Eastern North Carolina. UHS leases or owns seven and manages one hospital. It also includes physician practices, home health, hospice, wellness centers and other health care...
owned, and operates in Eastern North CarolinaEastern North CarolinaEastern North Carolina is the region encompassing the eastern tier of North Carolina. It is known geographically as the state's Coastal Plain region. Primary subregions of Eastern North Carolina include the Fayetteville Metropolitan Area, the Lower Cape Fear , the Sandhills, the Inner Banks and... - Flight for LifeFlight For LifeFlight for Life is a prehospital care service with many bases of operation across the United States. Flight for Life is primarily known for its emergency medical helicopter transport, but also operates a fleet of land vehicles and fixed wing aircraft for the transport of critically ill patients to...
- many bases of operation across the United States
- Life FlightLife FlightMemorial Hermann Life Flight is an air medical transport service based in Houston, Texas. Life Flight flies into 12th floor of the John S. Dunn Heli-Stop atop Memorial Hermann Hospital in the Texas Medical Center. It was founded in 1976.-History:...
(US) - Life ForceLife forceLife force is a concept of spiritual energy.Life force may also refer to:* Life Force , the American version of the arcade game Salamander* Lifeforce , a 1985 science fiction-horror film...
- 4-state region surrounding Erlanger Medical Center, Chattanooga, TennesseeChattanooga, TennesseeChattanooga is the fourth-largest city in the US state of Tennessee , with a population of 169,887. It is the seat of Hamilton County...
. - LifeNet, Inc. - Based in Texarkana, Texas with operations also out of Hot Springs, ArkansasHot Springs, ArkansasHot Springs is the 10th most populous city in the U.S. state of Arkansas, the county seat of Garland County, and the principal city of the Hot Springs Metropolitan Statistical Area encompassing all of Garland County...
.
- Maryland State Police Aviation Command - division focusing on medical evacuation operations. Aviation also supports ground units of the state and local police. Funding comes from vehicle registrationVehicle registrationVehicle registration is the compulsory registration of a vehicle with a government authority. Vehicle registration's purpose is to establish clear ownership and to tax motorists or vehicle owners....
fees. - MedflightMedflightMedFlight is a not-for-profit, air and ground critical care transportation company based in Columbus, Ohio that completes critical care transports by helicopter and mobile intensive care units. Medflight's base of operations is in Columbus, Ohio at the Ohio State University Airport with eight...
- Based out of Columbus, OhioColumbus, OhioColumbus is the capital of and the largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio. The broader metropolitan area encompasses several counties and is the third largest in Ohio behind those of Cleveland and Cincinnati. Columbus is the third largest city in the American Midwest, and the fifteenth largest city...
. - Mercy FlightsMercy FlightsMercy Flights is a ground ambulance and air medical transport service based in Medford, Oregon.Mercy Flights was founded as a non-profit organization in 1949 by George Milligan, an air traffic controller in Medford, after a friend of his died of polio in Southern Oregon, unable to survive the long,...
- Medford, Oregon. Was the first successful air ambulance in the country, is non-profit. Serves mainly Southern Oregon and Northern California; 150 miles (241.4 km) radius for helicopter, and almost anywhere West of the Rocky Mountains for the fixed wing airplane, within 1000 miles (1,609.3 km) of Medford. - Schaefer Air Service - California
- STAT MedevacSTAT MedevacSTAT MedEvac is a service of the Center for Emergency Medicine of Western Pennsylvania in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The primary function of STAT MedEvac is to provide air medical transport for patients with an injury or critical illness...
- based in Pittsburgh, PennsylvaniaPittsburgh, PennsylvaniaPittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...
- Trauma Hawk Aero-Medical Program - Palm Beach CountyPalm Beach County, FloridaPalm Beach County is the largest county in the state of Florida in total area, and third in population. As of 2010, the county's estimated population was 1,320,134, making it the twenty-eighth most populous in the United States...
, FloridaFloridaFlorida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
Incidents
Air Methods had, after the 2006 Mercy Air helicopter accident2006 Mercy Air helicopter accident
The 2006 Mercy Air helicopter accident occurred on December 10, 2006, about 1755 Pacific standard time, when a Bell 412SP helicopter, call sign "Mercy Air 2," impacted mountainous terrain near Hesperia, California and the Cajon Pass...
, a total of 19 accidents leading to the deaths of 21 people nationwide according to the National Transportation Safety Board's records. Air Methods companies had three other fatal accidents, in a 10 year period. On September 7, 2002, three crew members died when a Mercy Air helicopter based in Nevada
Nevada
Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...
crashed in Nipton, California
Nipton, California
Nipton is an unincorporated town in San Bernardino County, California, on the northern edge of Mojave National Preserve, west of Searchlight, Nevada. It has a population of 20 people....
after the main rotor blades separated while maneuvering in flight after dark. In January 2005, an Air Methods helicopter crashed in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
with two dead and one injured, and another crashed in Mississippi
Mississippi
Mississippi is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi...
killing one.
Craig Yale, the vice president of corporate development for Air Methods, stated in a news conference shortly after the accident that, "We fly over 100,000 hours a year, 85,000 missions a year, and in doing so have had very few fatal accidents over a 10-year period."
On June 29, 2008, a Bell 407
Bell 407
The Bell 407 is a four-blade, single-engine, civil utility helicopter; a derivative of the Bell 206L-4 LongRanger. The 407 uses the four-blade rotor with composite hub developed for the United States Army's OH-58D Kiowa Warrior instead of the two-blade, semi-rigid rotor of the 206L-4...
medical helicopter operated by Air Methods collided with another medical helicopter in Arizona, killing six of the seven aboard both aircraft. Another Air Methods helicopter crashed in May in Wisconsin soon after taking off; three people were killed in that accident: the pilot, flight doctor and flight nurse.
On September 28, 2008, at approximately 12:30am, Maryland State Police Trooper 2 (Eurocopter AS 365N1 Dauphin, N92MD) disappeared from radar and crashed with five people aboard in Walker Mill Regional Park in Prince George's County
Prince George's County, Maryland
Prince George's County is a county located in the U.S. state of Maryland, immediately north, east, and south of Washington, DC. As of 2010, it has a population of 863,420 and is the wealthiest African-American majority county in the nation....
. There were four confirmed fatalities, which included Pilot Stephen Bunker, TFC Mickey Lippy, EMT Tonya Mallard (Waldorf Volunteer Fire Department), and one of the two patients on board. This resulted in the grounding of all aircraft, until the cause is determined, with allied agencies covering the state. This is the fourth fatal crash in the history of the MSP Aviation Division. The most recent crash prior to this occurred on January 19, 1986.
See also
- Medical escortMedical escortMedical escort is a non-emergency medical service provided by air ambulance, medical escort companies and at times self employed Medical escort freelancers, which typically work for a Medical Company....
- International SOSInternational SOSInternational SOS provides integrated medical, clinical, and security services to organisations with international operations. Services include planning and preventative programs, in-country expertise, and emergency response. It has 9,000 employees, led by 1,100 full-time physicians and 200...
, Provider of air ambulance evacuation & repatriation services - Air Ambulances in the United KingdomAir Ambulances in the United KingdomThere are a number of air ambulance services in the United Kingdom using either helicopters or fixed-wing aircraft. Thirty helicopters, all operated by commercial companies and funded by charitable organisations, cover England and Wales...
- Emergency Aviation in the United KingdomEmergency Aviation in the United KingdomEmergency Aviation, in the United Kingdom, usually refers to:* Police air support units* Air ambulances* search and rescue facilities provided by the Royal Air Force and the Royal Navy or Her Majesty's Coastguard...
(disambiguation) - Medical evacuation