Aircraft To Be Put Through Their Paces At The Royal International Air Tattoo

The missions of helicopters will have a starring role in this year’s Royal International Air Tattoo (RIAT) air show, demonstrating the unique capability of its rotorcraft to provide vital police, ambulance, fire and rescue support through the interoperability of equipped UK emergency services. During the RIAT event at RAF Fairford in the Cotswolds on July 20-21, a rescue scenario will be enacted using three aircraft from Eurocopter’s mid-sized, twin-engine helicopter family.

The mid-day demonstrations will include an EC145 outfitted for fire and rescue duties, a police-configured EC135 and an EC135 air ambulance. An EC145 will deploy a specialist crew of the London Fire Brigade and their heavy tooling to remove the roof of a car involved in a simulated auto accident. Monitoring of the accident scene and downlinking of real-time information to a command base station is to be provided by a Police EC135, while the Devon Air Ambulance will perform casualty evacuation from the scene.
 
These demonstrations are part of the Air Tattoo’s Sky Guardian theme for 2013, which puts the spotlight on civil and military aircraft operators who play an important role safeguarding life, land and liberty – many of which utilize Eurocopter helicopters in the UK benefiting from their commonality and interoperability.
 
“When time is of the essence, the speed and effectiveness of UK airborne emergency services in responding to an incident can often be the difference between life and death,” explained Markus Steinke, the Managing Director of Eurocopter UK. “A fleet of 50 Eurocopter helicopter from the EC135/EC145 family operate daily across the country, serving as the nation's backbone for highly demanding missions in search, surveillance, crime detection and casualty evacuation.”
 
Before and after performing their duties at the RIAT’s simulated accident scene, the three helicopters and crews will be at the air show’s static park display for visits.

FMI: www.eurocopter.com