Cornwall Air Ambulance to acquire second helicopter

The campaign will run from 30 November until the end of December 2024, and aims to raise £2.85 million in support of a new Leonardo AW169.

Cornwall Air Ambulance (CAA) currently responds to over 1,000 seriously ill or injured patients per year, but it stated that ‘there is scope to reach even more people by air’.

It added that ‘owning a second [aircraft] will significantly boost the charity’s resilience and availability … with the versatility to operate two aircraft simultaneously during peak high-demand periods’.

Outside of peak periods, CAA will continue to operate a ‘single helicopter service’ – with the second aircraft acting as a permanent backup in the event that the primary helicopter requires planned or unplanned maintenance.

At present, the charity leases a backup AW109 from its air operations partner Castle Air – however, it explained that the AW169 is ‘far more advanced and capable’.

“We’re aware that we’re launching this appeal at a challenging economic time, but thanks to the support of our generous donors, we already have most of the money towards the cost of the £10 million helicopter,” said Tim Bunting, Chief Executive of CAA. “We hope the public will get behind us as we look to secure the remaining £2.85 million needed by the end of December next year.”

“Owning a second AW169 will increase the safety for the team of pilots, as we’ll be operating a single type of helicopter. This will remove the need for pilot training hours in different types of aircraft,” added Adam Smith, Chief Pilot. “The second helicopter will have more advanced lighting, providing better awareness of scenes at night in particular. The second helicopter will also have a lower ‘empty’ weight, allowing us to carry more fuel and attend when required more missions back-to-back and/or transfers to hospitals out of county.”