CareFlite air ambulance fleet to include Bell 407GXi
CareFlite is adding a Bell 407GXi, fitted with Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) configuration kit, to its air ambulance fleet.
The new helicopter will join two Bell 429 helicopters in its Helicopter Air Ambulance (HAA) fleet. The company also operates five Bell 407 helicopters that provide critical care transportation. Its helicopter fleet is used for emergency transports in Texas and Oklahoma and long-haul patient transfers throughout the region.
The purchase makes CareFlite the first HAA operator to use Bell’s 407GXi IFR kit in north and central Texas. The new IFR capability will allow all-weather operations while continuing to provide multi-mission capability safely, reliably, and effectively, said the OEM.
Lane Evans, MD, North America, Bell, said: “With CareFlite’s new Bell 407GXi and the two IFR certified Bell 429s currently in its fleet, Careflite will continue to facilitate around-the-clock critical care to patients across North and Central Texas.”
Bell has been a part of CareFlite’s mission of ‘Making Precious Minutes Count’ since 1979,” said Kevin Reynolds, interim CEO and chief operating officer, CareFlite. “For more than 40 years, CareFlite has utilised Bell aircraft to complete life-saving operations to patients in North and Central Texas, and we are proud to expand our current fleet capabilities with the new Bell 407GXi.”
CareFlite now operates seven helicopter bases at Texas Health Fort Worth Hospital, Methodist Dallas Medical Center, North Texas Medical Center Gainesville, McKinney National Airport, Whitney, Granbury Municipal Airport, and Burnet Municipal Airport. Over one million patients have been safely transported by air and ground, since its launch in 1979.
The Bell 407GXi’s new IFR capability will allow all-weather operations while continuing to provide multi-mission capability safely, reliably, and effectively, said the OEM.
Meanwhile, Bell supports with more than 1,600 Bell 407s worldwide, performing flight training, military and para-public missions. The 407GXi’s Garmin G1000H NXi Flight Deck is said to enhance situational awareness and reduce pilot workload by delivering easy-to-read information at a glance.
