Air Methods Corporation is an American privately owned helicopter operator. The Domestic Air Medical Division provides emergency medical services to 100,000 patients every year, and serves 48 states and Haiti.
The company was founded by Roy Morgan and began air medical operations in 1980. Since 1991, the company has been publicly traded company under the NASDAQ ticker "AIRM." In 2012, the company acquired its first helicopter tour operations called Sundance Helicopters in Las Vegas, Nevada, and a year later, Blue Hawaiian joined its tourism division. The company has more than 4,500 employees, operates a fleet of approximately 450 helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft.
Its corporate headquarters are on the property of Centennial Airport in Dove Valley CDP, Colorado, United States in the Denver metropolitan area; the headquarters uses an Englewood, Colorado postal address.
Video Air Methods
History
In 1980, Roy Morgan founded Air Methods after a personal experience convinced him that properly-equipped and staffed air medical service helicopters were a must.
Air Methods purchased CJ Systems Aviation Group, a leading provider of aeromedical transport, in October 2007.
In 2011 Air Methods acquired Omniflight Helicopters, Inc and operates it as a wholly owned subsidiary. Omniflight Helicopters consisted of over 100 helicopters.
In July 2011 Air Methods (Air Methods International, Ltd.) entered in a joint venture agreement with Basari Holding, AS and Anka Aerospace & Defense, LLC to form Helistar, AS. The joint venture company is headquartered in Ankara, Turkey.
In October 2012, Air Methods opened their state-of-the-art technologically advanced training center in Aurora, Colorado. Located near the corporate office, the 14,000-square-foot facility has a simulation areas, learning classrooms and office space. In addition, this was the year the company diversified into helicopter tourism.
In 2016, Air Methods acquired Tri-State Care Flight.
In 2017, Air Methods was purchased by American Securities LLC.
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Service Models
Air Methods provides services through three basic programs; Community-Based Model (CBM), Hospital-Based Model (HBM) and Alternative Delivery Model. Under all three programs, Air Methods transports persons requiring intensive medical care from either the scene of an accident or general care hospitals, to highly skilled trauma centers or tertiary care centers.
As of 2009, the CBM operated 105 bases at hospitals, fire stations or airports, operating more than 127 helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft and Air Methods employees provide medical care to patients en route.
As of 2009, the HBM delivery model was serving 80 hospital customers in 33 states and operated a fleet of more than 170 hospital-based aircraft and medical care en route is provided by employees or contractors of customer hospitals.
Divisions and services
The United Rotorcraft Division specializes in the design and manufacture of aeromedical and aerospace technology. The Tourism Division comprises Sundance Helicopters, Inc. and Blue Hawaiian Helicopters, which provides helicopter tours and charter flights in the Las Vegas/Grand Canyon region and Hawaii, respectively. Air Methods' fleet of owned, leased or maintained aircraft features over 450 helicopters and fixed wing aircraft.
Rocky Mountain Holdings, LLC (RMH), Mercy Air Service, Inc. (Mercy Air), and LifeNet, Inc. (LifeNet) operate as wholly owned subsidiaries of Air Methods.
The Air Methods Products Division(United Rotorcraft) designs, manufactures, and installs aircraft medical interiors and other aerospace or medical transport products.
The Direct Call Transfer Center is a division of Air Methods that coordinates transfers between hospitals and referring centers. It is the center point of coordination between all parties involved in the transfer process.
AirCom is the dispatching/coordinating/and flight tracking division of Air Methods. It dispatches over 400 aircraft for Air Methods Corporation as well as dispatching and coordinating services for other agencies, including police departments, county departments, ambulance services, and other public service agencies.
Aircraft
As of 31 December 2013, Air Methods' fleet included 264 company owned aircraft, 136 leased and 55 aircraft owned by customers and operated under contract. Included in that total were 48 single engine helicopters and 1 Piper Saratoga operated by their Tourism division. Air Methods Fleet of Helicopters includes the:
- Eurocopter AS350 Ecureuil
- Eurocopter AS365 Dauphin
- Eurocopter EC130
- Eurocopter EC135
- Eurocopter EC145 (including MBB/Kawasaki BK 117, the previous version)
- Bell 206 JetRanger and Bell 407
- Bell 222 and Bell 430
- Bell 412
- Bell 429
- AgustaWestland AW109
- AgustaWestland AW119 Koala
- MD Helicopters MD 902
Fixed Wing Owned and or Operated thru Air Methods
- Beechcraft King Air 100
- Beechcraft Super King Air 200
- Pilatus PC-12
- Cessna 208 Caravan
- Learjet 35
Accidents
Air Methods, as of 2006, has had a total of 19 accidents. Following a 2006 accident Craig Yale, the vice president of corporate development for Air Methods, stated in a news conference shortly after the accident that, "We fly over 100,000 hours a year, 85,000 missions a year, and in doing so have had very few fatal accidents over a 10-year period."
- In January 2005, an Air Methods helicopter crashed in Washington, D.C. with two dead and one injured, and another crashed in Mississippi killing one.
- On December 10, 2006 in the 2006 Mercy Air helicopter accident three were killed in a crash a Cajon Pass, California.
- On June 29, 2008, a Bell 407 medical helicopter operated by Air Methods collided with another medical helicopter in Arizona, killing all seven who were aboard both aircraft. Another Air Methods helicopter crashed in May in Wisconsin soon after taking off; three people were killed in that accident: the pilot, flight doctor and flight nurse.
- On July 28, 2010, LifeNet 12, a Eurocopter AS350B3 crashed in Tucson, Arizona killing all 3 crewmembers aboard. LifeNet 12 based out of Douglas Arizona was en route back to Douglas from Marana, Arizona. Witnesses describe the helicopter losing power in flight crashing into the street below. It appears from witnesses that the pilot was able to steer the aircraft away from landing into a house nearby.
- On August 26, 2011 four people (3 crew members and 1 patient) were killed when a LifeNet Eurocopter AS350 based at Rosecrans Airport and connected to Heartland Hospital in St. Joseph, Missouri crashed near Liberty, Missouri. Initial crash reports indicated it had run out of fuel. The helicopter had traveled 45 miles from St. Joseph to Harrison County Community Hospital in Bethany, Missouri to pick up a patient. It did not refuel before traveling another 70 miles en route to its intended destination at Liberty Hospital. It was reported to be within a mile of landing for fuel at Midwest National Air Center in Mosby, Missouri (near Liberty) when it crashed. In 2013 the NTSB received information indicating that texting may have been a contributing cause to the accident, making it the first time texting has been found to occur during a fatal air accident.
- On June 3, 2015, an Eurocopter AS350B3 medical helicopter operated by Air Methods crashed into a parking lot in Frisco, Colorado.The pilot was fatally injured, and the two flight nurses on board were seriously injured. The helicopter was destroyed by postcrash fire.
See also
- ARCH Air Medical Service
References
External links
- Air Methods official site
Source of article : Wikipedia
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