This week N811LV , sporting a new Wellspan livery, entered service as WellFlight 4-90 based at the Stevens Fire Department in Stevens, Pennsylvania. N811LV replaces N341AM, the temporary Air Methods aircraft brought in to start up the base in March 2023.
The seasoned enthusiast will recognize N811LV as the previous LVHN MedEvac 1 in Kutztown, Pennsylvania. Air Methods will be changing the N # soon. Once the change occurs, the N811LV registration will be reassigned to the EC135 now serving with LVHN MedEvac 1 in Kutztown.
July 17, 2023 | Mercy Flight Press Release | Canandaigua, NY
Mercy Flight Central is celebrating an exciting milestone as the first of their four new AW119 helicopters goes into service on Monday, July 17, 2023. The state-of-the-art helicopter will be in service at the Canandaigua base, with their Marcellus and Rome bases next to be equipped with the new airframe.
The fleet of AW119 helicopter will support Mercy Flight Central’s mission of providing high quality care to the critically ill or injured. As MFC is in their 31st year of dedicated service to their community, this new helicopter represents not only a historic moment for MFC, but also a renewed commitment to the communities that they serve.
President & CEO Erin Reese stated “I am proud of my team’s dedication to bringing these new aircraft into service. They have embraced change while learning new skills. Our new helicopters will help us continue to serve our community, being there for them when they need us most.”
On May 25th, N241AM entered service as MedEvac 1 at the their Kutztown base. Replacing N811LV, a 2016 EC130T2, this 2007 EC135 P2+ previously served with Mercy Air on the west coast. N241AM will transition to registration N811LV. Photo by Roger Buck.
UVA Pegasus has switched aircraft and vendors. N5UV, a 2002 A109E from SevenBar Avaition, has been replaced with a 2023 BK117C2 from Metro Aviation. Photo from the Pegasus Facebook Feed.
With the sale of these helicopters, Mercy Health Life Flight has downsized from 4 bases to 2 bases, leaving LF2 at Fulton County Airport and Life Flight 4 at Sandusky County Airport. Reports are that they will be adding another A109 this summer to go with the 3 existing A109s in their fleet: N91SV, N63SV and N95RZ.
The new critical care transport base at Lancaster Medical Center will provide closer medical air and ground transport coverage to residents of Lancaster County and the surrounding region. Life Lion operates two other bases, one on the campus of Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center and one at Carlisle Airport. All three locations are staffed by expertly trained, highly-specialized crew members including flight nurses, flight paramedics and pilots as well as a skilled and experienced in-house maintenance team. Communications specialists familiar with the region facilitate communication and continuous real-time tracking during all transports from the Life Lion Communications Center located at the Milton S. Hershey Medical Center. At any given time, three of Life Lion’s four helicopters are in service while the fourth is undergoing scheduled maintenance.
“Safe air transport when moments count is a key component of high-quality emergency medical care, and adding a base for it here reflects our commitment to being close to our patients when they need us most,” said Dr. Michael Reihart, director of emergency services at Lancaster Medical Center.
In addition to the four helicopters, Life Lion Critical Care has a pediatric ground transport ambulance. Since its first patient flight in 1986, Life Lion has flown more than 45,000 patients, including stroke and cardiac patients, traumatic accident and burn victims, critically ill infants and others in urgent need of high-level care. About 15 percent of Life Lion’s flights are trauma-related and the other 85 percent are inter-hospital transports, including patients in need of care and organs for transplant. Life Lion pilots have an average of 34 years of experience, while the program’s paramedics average 22 years and nurses average 18 years of experience.