Today we can announce that we will be taking delivery of a new helicopter next summer, an AgustaWestland AW169, subject to satisfactory completion of contract negotiations.  The AW169 aircraft will replace our current MD902 Explorer, which Specialist Aviation Services provides and operates on our behalf.  Our CEO Peter Aldrick confirmed the charity’s decision on Wednesday 7th October at Helitech International 2015.

The new helicopter will provide many benefits for our crew and of course, our patients. Such benefits include a significantly larger cabin area. This larger cabin will offer space for an additional person to be carried if required, such as a crew member, doctor, or relative of the patient, weight restrictions allowing.  The larger cabin of the AW169 will also give our medics improved 360 degree access to patients.  The new aircraft’s speed and flight capability will also enhance our operation enabling our crew to get to incidents faster, and to fly for longer.

Our CEO Peter Aldrick says: “We plan to continue to enhance the services we are able to provide to the people of Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire. We introduced a night HEMS service with our very capable MD Explorer three years ago. “We are now looking for our doctors and paramedics to be able to deal with a wider range of patient cases and we are very much looking forward to doing this with the new AW169.”

The main helicopter image is a generic mock up – the final design and more information on the helicopter will be released next year.