Yorkshire Air Ambulance launch new emergency helicopter
The new £6m aircraft - which is the first of two being unveiled -will allow them to respond to more emergencies and help save more lives.
Yorkshire Air Ambulance are unveiling the first of two new multi-million pound rapid response helicopters today.
The charity has told Viking that they've seen a 30% percent increase in call-outs in the last 12 months.
The new Airbus H145 means they'll be able to get to more emergencies as the aircraft can be in the air a lot longer.
Paul Gowland is from the charity and says it'll result in more lives being saved across the county. He told Viking:
"This is a state-of-the-art helicopter, it flies for longer hours and can be in the air a lot more and it will be flying into major trauma centres. There are only four major trauma centres in the whole of Yorkshire, which Hull Royal Infirmary is one and every week someone will be flown into the hospital for life-saving treatment.
"Because it is a brand new helicopter the amount of time it will be away for servicing will be very limited and we will fly a lot longer into dusk because we have lit heli-bases and lit heli-pads.
"Yorkshire is a hige county, it's the largest county in the country and when you think about Hull, Sheffield, Leeds and Middlesborough being the centres of clinical excellence they are a long way away from lots of different people and particuarly in the likes of Humberside and across the East Coast, it is vital that we can fly at 160mph to the major trauma centres to save somebody's life.
"There has been a 30% increase in the last 12 months and it is now close to 1,300 missions that we attend each year. Every single day, two people are flown to a major trauma centre inside Yorkshire and that will include people going into Hull Royal Infirmary weekly with life-threatening injuries."
The helicopters replace their two current ageing aicraft - with the second one being introduced at the end of the year.