For almost ten years, the British county of Wiltshire has been host to an MD Explorer jointly operated by the Police and Air Ambulance – a relatively unusual British aviation industry phenomenon with a Governmental organisation working hand-in-hand with a charity.  This arrangement draws to a close at the end of November, with the aircraft joining the National Police Air Service and becoming dedicated to a law enforcement role.

This separation has given Wiltshire Air Ambulance (WAA) new opportunities.  Firstly they had to go through the process of chosing a new aircraft, and Bell announced the sale of the UK’s first EMS 429 in September 2013.  The helicopter will be operated by Bell representatives Heli Charter under a new ten year contract to WAA, which provides for a brand new 429 at the five year point.  Secondly, it provided a perfect time to re-brand and create their own identity. In August the charity revealed the Bell yellow and green colour chart for the aircraft, and HeliHub.com can exclusively confirm that this has remained true to plan and the aircraft is now flying in the UK in this scheme.

On Saturday, G-WLTS was flying between Heli Charter’s second base at Turweston and the Isle of Man, providing and opportunity for a photo.

Jeremy Parkin – HeliHub.com

The images here are © Copyright 2014 Alex Henthorn, who has given HeliHub.com permission to reproduce them here.  The appearance of these images does not infer any permission to reproduce them further – although no doubt more photos will emerge this week from Helitech.

The images here are © Copyright 2014 Alex Henthorn, who has given HeliHub.com permission to reproduce them here.  The appearance of these images does not infer any permission to reproduce them further – although no doubt more photos will emerge this week from Helitech.