European Air Ambulances are expanding their services and modernising equipment. Medic'air International has established a dedicated air ambulance aircraft based in Paris, available 24-7. "As the final result of a partnership between two corporate aircraft companies and a medical repatriation agency, a Beech King Air 1900C is registered in France," says gm Dr H. Raffin. "It can take off in two hours with its English and French speaking medical team, with an emergency physician and a flying nurse, and equipped with full ICU devices."

The aircraft, based at Paris Le Bourget, can carry four ICU stretchers with six sitting passengers that can include medical crew and relatives and is focused on Europe and the Mediterranean region.

Meanwhile the U.K.'s Devon Air Ambulance Trust expects the delivery of an EC135 in September. It replaces the current Bolkow 105DBS. And the DRF (German Air Rescue) and its partners in the Team DRF have ordered 30 new defibrillation and patient monitoring units for their air rescue centres. After extensive tests the air rescuers opted for a system from the manufacturer GS Elektromedizinische Geraete G. Stemple GmbH from Kaufering, Germany. The modular system combines several functions and helps thus to cut costs and weight, according to Dr. Joerg Braun, director medical services, DRF.

Dr. Braun says: "In emergency rescue the crews have to work quite often under difficult circumstances. For example: an injured person is freed from his destroyed car by fire fighters. There is little space, heavy equipment is being used. In this situation the system offers us the possibility to leave a little measuring device with the patient and to clip off the rest of the system.

Data is transferred via radio. The emergency physician can monitor the patient continually without any cables being in the way of the rescue team."

European Air Ambulance recently moved out of its Alert Centre in Stuttgart to newly renovated, customised Mission Control Centre (MCC) at Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden airport. The new centre belongs to EAA member DRF and is now complete with a hangar able to accommodate the air ambulance aircraft.

Eight staff have so far been employed at the MCC, with four vacancies still open as EAA expands its operational teams to meet growing demand. The MCC is being run by DRF's fixed wing operations manager Peter Huber and Sven Mertes, who is in charge of the fixed wing business at EAA member Luxembourg Air Rescue.