Leonardo has sold more than 70 of its AW109 Trekker skid gear light twins, including a new sale to a French helicopter EMS service in Normandy, France, the company announced this week. SAF Hélicoptères will use the new helicopter to support operations from Rouen Hospital. Thus, its Trekker will be fitted with a customized EMS interior and delivered from Leonardo’s plant in Vergiate, Italy, later this year. An EMS-configured Trekker can accommodate one stretcher with three to four medical attendants or two stretchers and two medical attendants.
SAF companies operate 65 helicopters, providing medical transports, heavy-lift, mountain rescue aerial work, VIP transport, air tourism, maintenance, and training from bases in Cote d’Azur, the Alps, Paris, and Réunion Island. It is also the only private helicopter operator in France with night vision goggle operations.
Approved by EASA in 2017 and the FAA in 2019, the Trekker is the latest and lowest-cost variant in Leonardo’s AW109 series, of which more than 1,500 have been delivered. The helicopter—which can be flown VFR or IFR, single or dual pilot—shares the airframe and Pratt & Whitney PW207C engines of the AW109 Grand but substitutes fixed landing skids for retractable gear and the Genesys Aerosystems glass cockpit for standard avionics. It features a crash-resistant fuel system, Category A/Class 1 performance, and a 30-minute run-dry main gearbox.