A seriously injured motorcyclist, a toddler with burns, a heart attack patient: in an emergency, every minute counts. When help is needed right away, salvation increasingly comes from the air. Europes DRF Luftrettung exemplifies this trend: its helicopters flew a total of 38,748 missions last year, 382 missions more than in 2011.
DRF Luftrettung took off on its first air rescue mission in the Stuttgart, Germany metropolitan area 40 years ago, on March 19, 1973. To date, the non-profit air rescue organization has flown a total of about 700,000 missions. On the occasion of its 40-year anniversary, the organization is making important decisions for the future. Said Steffen Lutz, CEO of DRF Luftrettung, “As Germany’s first air rescue organization, we will put into service one of the latest-generation helicopters, the [Eurocopter] EC145 T2, before the end of the year. This type of helicopter, which is also ideal for night flight operations, will gradually replace our fleet of BK117s. In addition, DRF Luftrettung will put a new aircraft of the type Lear 45 into service before the start of the holiday season. Among other things, the modern jet has the advantage of a larger cabin, so that we can transport two patients at the same time.
DRF Luftrettung operates 31 helicopter emergency medical services bases in Germany, Austria and Denmark, with over 50 helicopters for emergency rescue and intensive care transport between hospitals including around-the-clock coverage at eight bases. Under the name of European Air Ambulance (EAA), the DRF Luftrettung and the Luxembourg Air Ambulance (LAA) operate seven ambulance aircraft, and employ experienced pilots and medical teams for the worldwide repatriation of patients. Last year, a total of 839 patients were brought back home from 103 countries abroad.
