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Press Release
Issued by Heli Austria.
May 7, 2020
As of 9:00 am on 27th April, a fifth emergency medical helicopter called “Martin 5” went into operation in Lower Austria. The red helicopter, operated by Heli-Austria subsidiary Martin Flugrettung will be on call from Bad-Vöslau airfield every day from 8.00 am to sunset for life-saving missions in Lower Austria, Vienna and Burgenland.
OE-XFF (S/N 2075) is a state-of-the-art helicopter of the H135 series, type EC 135 T3, from Airbus Helicopters, which was newly delivered to Heli Austria from the Airbus plant in Donauwörth in 2018.
The helicopter has a four-axis autopilot and a Helionix glass cockpit. With this equipment, the helicopter is also approved for night flight. The helicopter is also available for mountain rescue operations and is equipped with Tauflug equipment.
For the transport of infections, such as the coronavirus, an isolation chamber is available at the base in Bad-Vöslau, which can be used after a short lead time. "This is particularly advantageous in the case of intensive care transports, in order not to come into direct contact with the infectious patient," says chief emergency doctor, Dr. Matthias Stark.
In order to be alerted to emergency operations, Heli-Austria had to overcome some hurdles in Lower Austria. Among other things, it was necessary to maintain the status as an "operational organisation". For emergency operations, the Martin-5 emergency helicopter is now connected to the Lower Austrian rescue control centre "144 Lower Austria Emergency Call". This means the selection of the rescue or emergency doctor is made by the dispatchers on duty in the rescue control centre, depending on the severity of the emergency and the respective arrival time at the emergency location, regardless of the organisation of the operation.
There was still a lot to do for the crew on the first day; all the devices and the aircraft had to be checked for operational readiness before being ready for use at 9.00 a.m. at the control centre in St. Pölten as planned "Free on guard" reported. In the first week, base manager Capt. Andy Pojer, chief emergency physician Dr. Matthias Stark and the leading air rescuer Gernot Halbwirth dienst am Martin 5. This crew will continue to set the direction of the air rescue base in the future.
Martin Flugrettung is a subsidiary of the Pongau helicopter company Heli-Austria, which is owned and managed by Roy Knaus. It operates 10 emergency helicopter locations in Tyrol, Salzburg, and Upper and Lower Austria. It is flown with an ultra-modern fleet consisting of H135, H145 and MD902 Explorer helicopters. Every year, more than 4,000 rescue missions are carried out by Martin Flugrettung in Austria. Heli-Austria is one of the largest helicopter transport companies in Europe and has locations in Italy, Greece and Iceland, among others.
