Ergonomic aircraft interiors benefit both patients and healthcare professionals.
Image: Airbus
Chris Croot provides a mini round-up of some of the recent developments servicing the HEMS and aeromedical evacuation sector.
Aviation and emergency medicine work in close partnership every day, across the globe. To achieve the best possible results for patients, crews and healthcare professionals need the best equipment and working environments.
This means ergonomic aircraft interiors, lightweight stretchers and transportation devices and compact yet capable equipment.
All of these features test the ingenuity of engineers and designers of equipment providers, often working to improve tried and tested solutions.
Here we examine the contributions of six different companies over the course of the past year.
Aerolite
Swiss interior systems provider Aerolite has developed a motorised version of its popular Roll-in System. The manual system was developed as an ultra-lightweight stretcher system with a collapsible wheel and leg assembly, which folds as it enters and extends as it leaves the aircraft.
The stretcher can also be fitted with the PackRack, a stretcher bridge which allows for the carriage of life-support and monitoring equipment.
When fitted, the PackRack remains attached throughout the patient journey, reducing transfer time and maximising cabin space. A 125-kilogram incubator can also be attached to the Roll-in System for the transfer of neonatal patients.
The powered iteration of the Roll-in System was unveiled at VERTICON 2025 in Dallas and eliminates the need for HEMS medical crews to manually push and pull the stretcher in/out of the aircraft.
In a post on LinkedIn, Aerolite said: “This innovative upgrade allows for seamless patient loading and unloading, enhancing both efficiency and safety in air medical transportation. Designed for smoother operations, the Powered Roll-in System ensures quicker response times and greater ease for medical teams, all while maintaining the highest standards of comfort and care.”
Alongside its stretcher systems, Aerolite produces aircraft flooring solutions for special missions aircraft.
These machined aluminium assemblies can be configured with attachment points for equipment and storage, and seat rails.
HEMS floors are sealed and have a raised lip to prevent spillage and drainage holes forward and aft.
Smith Myers
Smith Myers is one of the major players in the Mobile Phone Detection and Location System (MPDLS) market. The company manufactures products with air, sea and land search and rescue (SAR) applications.
The compact ARTEMIS unit. The system also uses mounted aerials. Image: Smith Myers
Their primary product is ARTEMIS, a system which uses two aerials mounted on the underside of an aircraft to detect mobile phone signals. It then identifies the location of the mobile device and directs the SAR crew towards it.
If the aircraft is equipped with an EO/IR (electro-optical/infra-red) sensor turret, ARTEMIS can steer this in the direction of the mobile phone, allowing crews to begin searching for casualties immediately.
The system requires no external masts or relays and can even send a text message to the mobile phone, letting casualties know that help is on the way.
The system has already been integrated into the Royal Norwegian Air Force’s EH-101 “SAR Queen” helicopters and, in September 2025, was selected as the factory-fitted option for Airbus Helicopters. It is also available for retrofit to existing airframes.
In November, Smith Myers and Trakka Systems announced the integration of ARTEMIS with the Trakka TM-100 Mapping System and TC line of EO/IR camera systems. This allows ARTEMIS to display target location data on the Trakka mission display screen. Although this system is not a traditional HEMS capability, it is a highly capable SAR avionics suite.
An image showing ARTEMIS location information overlaid on the Smith Myers Shotover mission system. Here it is displaying a location through cloud cover. Image: Smith Myers
Metro Aviation
Metro Aviation is both a traditional helicopter operator, providing training and medical flight operations, and a HEMS platform outfitter.
The organisation announced in October 2025 that it will be the first completion centre to offer EMS-interior Supplemental Type Certificate (STC) for the new Airbus H160.
Metro says its STC package will “tailor the H160 to the critical care transport role, integrating intensive-care capable stretcher systems, medical equipment interfaces, optimised patient/caregiver cabin layouts and efficient loading access”, adding: “By being first to market with this EMS-interior STC, Metro affords operators a strategic advantage in fielding a next-generation rotorcraft optimised for lifesaving missions.”
The H160 cabin will also be available as a retrofit kit, opening the door to operators outside of the USA.
This follows a previous announcement, made in March 2025, unveiling an upgraded medical interior for the Airbus H135, to be known as the 2.0 interior.
While retaining some features from the previous interior, such as options for external gaseous or liquid oxygen (LOX) systems and a mount air and suction set-up, there are new improvements that “enhance situational awareness and provide greater accessibility for medical crews”, according to Metro Aviation’s Part 145 Director of Maintenance, Shawn Bruton.
These improvements include a renovated communication panel that has been repositioned to allow optimal access by both emergency care attendants.
Metro Aviation said: “The redesign also maximises the full width of the aft wall grid, creating more space for medical teams to work efficiently.”
In addition, new ground-use-only exterior lighting improves visibility around the aircraft when crews embark and disembark.
Spectrum Aeromed
Spectrum Aeromed’s Patient Stacker System, as installed inside a Super Puma. Image: Spectrum Aeromed
Included in the 2025 Inc. 5000 list of the fastest-growing private companies, Spectrum Aeromed delivers bespoke HEMS and air ambulance cabin fittings.
The company designs and installs patient transportation systems such as EMS modules and articulation stretchers. It also installs the full gamut of speciality equipment: LOX systems, incubator transport systems, medical equipment mounts, storage solutions, stretcher bridges and patient loading systems.
Spectrum holds STCs for a wide range of fixed-wing and rotary aircraft, and in March 2025, added the Airbus H145 D-3 and H225 Super Puma to that list.
The H145 module integrates electrical, oxygen and pneumatic outlets and is certified for use with the Spectrum’s own stretcher offerings, the Ferno 9 stretcher and paediatric transport modules.
The Super Puma unit plays to the aircraft’s size advantage and offers a patient stacking system, with one patient secured above the other, which supports dual-patient transport.
The cabin can be configured with two ambulance modules, two stacking systems (for a total of four patients) or one of each.
The Bracket Pro Serie 27 with a ventilator /defibrillator mounted. Image: Technimount
Technimount System
Canadian engineering and manufacturing company Technimount System specialises in the development of mounting solutions for medical devices in medical and military environments, both on the ground and in the air.
In December 2025, it revealed the new Bracket Pro Serie[1.1] 27-GR and Bracket Pro Serie 27-FL – two mounting options for the ZOLL Zenix monitor/defibrillator, a popular system for HEMS and air ambulances.
The brackets are designed to work with the company’s Standard Surface Base and allow HEMS operators to mount the Zenix in multiple cabin locations. The system is compliant with SAE J3043 and FAA 14CFR.
A company spokesperson said: “This addition to the Bracket Pro Serie line-up showcases innovation driven by industry demand, offering a safe and adaptable solution tailored to ZOLL’s newest medical device.”
This follows a June 2025 announcement of the Bracket Pro Serie 61, which is designed to secure the HAMILTON-H900 humidifier with a dedicated aviation version.
In April 2025, the company unveiled a new air transport mounting solution for the Dräger Isolette TI500 incubator. The mounting uses Technimount’s XClamp Technology and allows the LifePort AeroSled TS to be rapidly converted from an adult/paediatric stretcher into a neonatal transport solution.
The platform was engineered for compatibility with Technimount’s Xtension Pro Assistant, which provides mounting options for medical devices required for neonatal patient care.
Metro Aviation’s upgraded H135 2.0 interior aims to enhance situational awareness and provide greater accessibility. Image: Metro Aviation
ZOLL Medical
The aforementioned Zenix is the latest device from ZOLL, a leading manufacturer of monitor/defibrillators.
In September 2025, the device was given Federal Drug Agency (US Food and Drug Administration) approval, clearing it for EMS use across the United States.
Zenix is built on user feedback and features an 8.4-inch LCD touchscreen which can display most functions within three taps of the screen. A physical knob is also fitted.
To reduce downtime during upgrades, the device features pods containing the essential hardware. This “plug-and-play” system allows ZOLL’s ExpertCare Field Service technicians to simply replace old pods with the new updated equipment.
The device is designed for all ages but has been designed to recognise when it is attached to a paediatric patient, so that it automatically lowers energy levels prior to defibrillation.
It also adjusts alarms to paediatric settings and displays critical information via the dedicated paediatric CPR Dashboard display.
Zenix features ZOLL’s See-Thru CPR, which enables medical personnel to view underlying rhythm without stopping compressions.
An AED analysis algorithm adjusts to paediatric parameters, and Zenix provides constant current pacing, which ZOLL says is “more effective for treating bradycardia with less current”, adding: “Zenix delivers advanced, tailored support to help improve paediatric resuscitation.”
Post-treatment of patients, Zenix automatically sends code data to ZOLL’s RescueNet CaseReview debriefing software.
The software displays detailed, snapshot data covering the patient’s journey while connected to the device. This allows for easy review and provides training materials for future events.
New rotorcraft mean new challenges, but also new possibilities. Looking ahead, how will the arrival of eVTOL platforms impact HEMS operations? Will OEMs provide their own off-the-shelf capabilities or will the major players continue to develop these aircraft?
As medical technology advances, particularly in the world of trauma and immediate response, it is only logical to expect HEMS capabilities to advance too.
This article “What’s new Doc?” was published in the December 2025/January 2026 issue of RotorHub International. To read more articles like this, apply for your complimentary subscription today.
