A seriously injured motorcyclist, a toddler with burns, a heart attack pa-tient: in an emergency, every minute counts. When help is needed right away, salvation increasingly comes from the air. The DRF Luftrettung helicopters flew a total of 38,748 missions last year – these are 382 mis-sions more than the previous year (2011: 38,366).

DRF Luftrettung gets prepared for the future

DRF Luftrettung took off on its first air rescue mission in the Stuttgart metropolitan area 40 years ago, on March 19, 1973. To date, the non-profit air rescue organization has flown a total of about 700,000 missions. On the occasion of its 40-year anniversary, the organization is making important decisions for the future: “As Germany’s first air rescue organization, we will put into service one of the latest-generation helicopters, the EC 145 T2, before the end of the year. This type of helicopter, which is also ideal for night flight operations, will gradually replace our fleet of BK 117”, explains Steffen Lutz, CEO of DRF Luftrettung. “In addition, DRF Luftrettung will put a new aircraft of the type Lear 45 into service before the start of the holiday season. Among other things, the modern jet has the advantage of a larger cabin, so that we can transport two patients at the same time”, says Lutz.
DRF Luftrettung abroad

DRF Luftrettung operates 31 HEMS (Helicopter Emergency Medical Service) bases in Germany, Austria and Denmark with over 50 helicopters for emer-gency rescue and intensive care transport between hospitals, at eight bases even around the clock. The helicopters are not only the fastest way to bring an emergency physician to the site, they are also unbeatably fast in transporting emergency patients to specialized hospitals.

Under the name of European Air Ambulance (EAA) the DRF Luftrettung and the LAA (Luxembourg Air Ambulance) operate seven ambulance aircraft, and employ experienced pilots and medical teams for the worldwide repatriation of patients. Last year, a total of 839 patients were brought back home from 103 countries abroad. For further information, go to: www.drf-luftrettung.de