Swiss Air-Rescue Service Rega has ordered nine five-bladed H145s from Airbus Helicopters to replace its current four-bladed versions.
Established in 1952, Rega is a private, non-profit air rescue service that provides emergency medical assistance in Switzerland and Liechtenstein.
All Rega helicopters carry a crew of three: a pilot, an emergency physician, and a paramedic who is also trained to assist the pilot for radio communication, navigation, terrain/object avoidance, and winch operations.
“The H145 has fully proven itself in our operations since entering into service in 2018,” CEO of Rega Ernst Kohler said in a statement.
“We look forward to operating the five-bladed version on our HEMS bases in Switzerland. The helicopters will allow us to further boost our mission capabilities and safety of our operations.”
Rega operates 13 HEMS stations in Switzerland. In 2021, the helicopter crews carried out 14,330 missions, including transporting 471 COVID patients. Rega’s current fleet includes seven H145s and one H125 used for pilot training.
The new H145s will come equipped with an integrated navigation by Garmin called Flight Management System GTN750x. It will integrate and control a multi-sensor system that provides highly accurate and reliable navigation capacities.
This means that even in the event of GPS signal loss, the helicopter will be able to navigate safely thanks to Thales’ inertial navigation system.
This solution will further boost the navigation performance in low IFR conditions and allows the helicopter to be certified as navigation procedure RNP-AR 0.1, which is the most accurate navigation procedure in the helicopter environment. The configuration also includes a new hoist by Vincorion that is being certified on the five-bladed H145.