Low Flight Network authorisation for Rega
Swiss air rescue provider Rega has been granted permission by the Federal Office of Aviation to use key intersections of the so-called Low Flight Network around the clock.
Swiss air rescue provider Rega has been granted permission by the Federal Office of Aviation to use key intersections of the so-called Low Flight Network around the clock – this means that the rescue helicopters can fly on autopilot along a route stored in the board computer, increasing safety and allowing the aircraft to fly in poor weather when they would previously have been unable to provide their vital services. Rega estimates that it will now be able to serve around 300 more patients a year, who are in need of service in poor weather conditions.
Rega has been working together with the Swiss Air Force, Skyguide air navigation service and Federal Office of Civil Aviation (FOCA) for a number of years in order to set up and operate the Low Flight Network. This countrywide network of instrument flight routes is based on satellite navigation and links airports, airfields, hospitals and Rega helicopter bases with each other.
Rega has already been able to successfully use various sections of the Low Flight Network routes, such as IFR approaches to the military airfields in Emmen and Meiringen, as well as to the helipad at the Inselspital University Hospital in Berne – but only in the daytime during the official operating times of the facility in question. For example, a Rega helicopter pilot was allowed to perform an IFR approach flight to Emmen military airfield at 09:00 hrs in order to penetrate the blanket of high-lying fog and then fly the patient underneath the fog level to the nearby Cantonal Hospital in Lucerne. After 17:00 hrs, at the weekend – that is, outside the airfield's operating hours – this same approach flight was not permitted. However, as rescue missions are not restricted to specific times of the day, it is essential for Rega to be permitted to use individual LFN routes and IFR approach flights outside these operating hours, too, said the company.
“I am absolutely delighted that together with FOCA we have now been able to take a huge step forward,” commented Rega CEO Ernst Kohler. “Thanks to these new possibilities, Rega crews will be able to help more people and at the same time benefit from an increased level of safety during rescue missions.”
Further expansion measures are planned to allow the entire Low Flight Network to be used at night, as well as to link other hospitals and regions, such as the Engadin, with the network of instrument flight routes. In addition, Rega would like to have unrestricted use of the military approach flight procedures outside normal operating hours. “In close collaboration with the Swiss Air Force, we are undertaking groundbreaking work with this project, which is attracting attention worldwide,” said Heinz Leibundgut, chief helicopter pilot at Rega. “I am confident that our efforts will pay off for our patients.”