The Health Care District of Palm Beach County in Florida has taken delivery of the first of two AW169s it has on order with Leonardo. The two aircraft are for the county’s Trauma Hawk EMS programme and will replace the two Sikorsky S76C++ it has operated for 24 years. Flight and ground crews are undergoing conversion training on the new aircraft ahead of the arrival of the second aircraft, due later this month.
“The Health Care District’s aeromedical programme has been a key component of Palm Beach County’s integrated trauma system for more than 30 years,” said Dr Kenneth A. Scheppke, Medical Director of the Health Care District’s Aeromedical and Ground Transportation Programmes and Palm Beach County Fire Rescue. “These new, technologically advanced aircraft will play a key role in EMS response by providing critically ill and injured patients access to safe and rapid air transport in a county with a land area larger than the state of Rhode Island.”
