Leonardo is debuting an air ambulance interior mockup of its AW609 civil tiltrotor this week at the Air Medical Transport Conference in Tampa, Florida. The AW609 features a 35-inch-wide main cabin door that easily accommodates patient transfer from ground ambulance litter to the aircraft’s medical pedestal. The cabin is large enough for one patient and four medical attendants or two patients with fewer attendants.
AW609 marketing manager William Sunick thinks there is a large untapped market for the aircraft in rural areas and for use to co-transport transplant organs and associated medical teams. “The aircraft has drawn a lot of attention, especially in the EMS configuration,” he said. “The ability to have a point-to-point high-speed vertical lift aircraft with a pressurized interior to transport that organ is huge.”
In rural applications, the 609 has the ability to do scene work and quickly transport patients to the medical facility with the most appropriate level of care, including special needs such as burns and eye injuries, according to Sunick. “You don’t have to go to the first medical facility that you come across.” He also pointed out that the cabin can be pressurized down to sea level, enabling a higher level of care to be administered to patients.