Aircraft medical fit completed
The air crew, fundraisers, paramedics and all the team at Cornwall Air Ambulance are celebrating following the arrival of the second lifesaving helicopter at the charity’s airbase in Newquay.
The new AW169, G-CNLL, was brought over to the UK from Leonardo Helicopters in Italy earlier this year.
It subsequently underwent several months’ worth of work for its medical fit at Gama Aviation in Gloucester. The installation turned it into a fully functioning critical care resource.
The arrival of the second helicopter is a major milestone in the charity’s history. The charity says it’s thanks to the generosity of the public during the recent 18 month ‘Heli2 Appeal’ which resulted in the successful handover of the aircraft. The fundraising venture raised £2.85 million.
‘This is a momentous day for Cornwall Air Ambulance and the people of Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly,’ says Tim Bunting, Chief Executive of Cornwall Air Ambulance.
‘We were the very first UK Air Ambulance service – and our latest arrival today will help us continue to save many more lives and provide the best possible service.’
‘Thanks to the generosity of a huge number of people, we now have two state-of-the-art helicopters at our disposal. This enables us to provide the very best possible critical care service to those who need us.’
‘We could not have done this without your support, so on behalf of all of us here at the charity, thank you.’
‘Significantly boost the organisation’s versatility, capability and resilience’
The charity says owning a ‘second technologically advanced AW169 helicopter will significantly boost the organisation’s versatility, capability and resilience, by enabling the crew to attend more of their missions by air across their 365-day-a-year service.’
‘We’re delighted to now have the second AW169 here with us at the airbase,’ says Adam Smith, Unit Chief Pilot.
‘Several of our pilot team were lucky enough to carry out the ferry flight from Italy to the UK, and it’s great to see that final leg of the journey to our airbase completed today.’
‘Robust checks and inspections have already been carried out, and the team now looks forward to carrying out the final test flights over the next few weeks.’
The aircraft will now undergo what is known as a ‘shakedown’ period, where the pilots carry out approximately 20 flying hours of final tests, before G-CNLL can go into operation.
The public’s first chance to see the second helicopter up close will be at the charity’s blue lights festival, Helifest, taking place on Saturday 19th July at Scorrier House near Redruth.
