The 2006 Air Medical Transport Conference currently underway in Phoenix, AZ is proving to be lucrative for American Eurocopter... with the EADS subsidiary celebrating three sales of its EC135 to customers in Pennsylvania.

Pittsburgh-based STAT MedEvac -- the largest private provider of air medical services (AMS) helicopter services in the United States -– took delivery of one EC135 at the show. Part of a 2005 order for one EC145 and four EC135s, the EC135 is equipped with "the best in flying technology," says STAT MedEvac COO James Bothwell.

"This EC135 has single pilot IFR, night vision goggles, and a ground proximity warning systems," Bothwell said. "In fact, it has all of the flight safety systems recommended by the FAA and NTSB; thanks to the increased payload capacity of today’s EC135."

"They just keep improving the EC135's airframe," Bothwell, a longtime EC135 customer, added. "I think the reason Eurocopter has been able to do so much with this aircraft is because there are so many EC135 airframes in use today. Having built so many of them, they have gained considerable knowledge of what makes this airframe work, and what to do to make it even better."

STAT MedEvac's 22 aircraft fleet is entirely comprised of Eurocopters; 14 of which are EC135s. The rest are EC145s, BK117s, and AS355s.

American Eurocopter also took the opportunity to announce Pennsylvania-based Keystone Helicopter Corporation is now flying two EC135s it acquired from Travis County, TX.

You may think that announcement is somewhat unusual, as the sale does not represent any new funds for Eurocopter -- until you note that in addition to being one of the largest and oldest helicopter services companies in the United States, Keystone is also a wholly-owned subsidiary of rival helo-maker Sikorsky.

Keystone bought the two EC135s earlier in 2006, after "evaluating all the rotorcraft that were available on the pre-owned market," says Rick Hinkle, Keystone's vice president of business development. "We are in the process of updating our fleet, so we decided to bring the two EC135s in to see how well they work. To date, the EC135s are performing their AMS missions extremely well, at a far lower operating cost than our existing aircraft."

Keystone is using the EC135s for Air Medical Service (AMS) missions. The company operates a large fleet of turbine helicopters, which are based at numerous air medical locations in the eastern USA.

Eurocopters are nothing new to the Keystone fleet, as the company currently flies a number of them... including ten BK117s.

"Should the pre-owned EC135s continue their cost-effective ways, Keystone Helicopter may well acquire some new EC135s in the future," Hinkle says.

FMI: www.eurocopterusa.com, www.aams.org/Content/NavigationMenu/EducationMeetings/AMTC2006/default.htm