NT-Air receives King Air
Hawker Beechcraft Corporation has announced that Prince George-based Northern Thunderbird Air (NT-Air) has taken delivery of a new Beechcraft King Air 350, which the company has placed into air ambulance service.
Hawker Beechcraft Corporation has announced that Prince George-based Northern Thunderbird Air (NT-Air) has taken delivery of a new Beechcraft King Air 350, which the company has placed into air ambulance service. The aircraft was delivered in early September and taken to the Hawker Beechcraft Services (HBS) facility in Wichita, Kansas, US, to be fitted with the necessary avionics and medical equipment.“As the newest and most modern aircraft in our fleet, the Beechcraft King Air 350 is under contract to the Province of British Columbia for dedicated air ambulance operations,” confirmed Bill Hesse, general manager of Northern Thunderbird Air. “This King Air has the speed, state-of-the-art avionics, endurance and high altitude capability to provide a first-class air ambulance service to the people of British Columbia.”
Air ambulance capabilities installed at HBS Wichita include provisions for dual LifePort, Inc. Advanced Life Support System medical beds. Each bed is equipped with oxygen, vacuum and compressed air, as well as lighting and inverters to provide AC power for medical equipment. AMax-Viz EVS-1500 Enhanced Vision System provides the aircraft with enhanced safety operating from remote, isolated fields by giving the flight crew improved visibility in ground operations, as well as in flight operations at night and in other poor visibility conditions. Elsewhere,Skytrac Automatic Flight Following (AFF) delivers the aircraft’s location to the destination hospital, allowing the hospital to be prepared when the aircraft arrives. In addition, Skytrac AFF provides voice and text communications between the air and ground via Bluetooth connectivity/interfacing with iPhone, Android and BlackBerry smartphones.Stormscope is also integrated into the multi-function display to complement weather radar data with lightning strike information, providing more complete information to determine the potential for turbulent weather. Three cabin chairs, a work table and custom interphone stations allow the medical crew to easily communicate with the on-board flight crew.