Story ID: 
Life Flight Expands AW109 Fleet
By: Mark Huber
Caption: Utah-based Intermountain Life Flight is adding a seventh AW109 to its fleet.
Word Count: 166
Utah-based Intermountain Life Flight is adding a sixth Leonardo AW109 GrandNew to its fleet of five AW109 GrandNews and one AW109K2 light twin EMS-configured helicopters. Intermountain is the only civilian air ambulance service in the U.S. to have an FAA-approved external load hoist rescue operation and is the sole IFR EMS operator in Utah with its own low-level IFR infrastructure and proprietary heliport approach procedures. The service makes 4,000 transports annually from seven base hospitals across the state and provides high-risk obstetrics, complex cardiac care and intra-aortic balloon pump transports.

Intermountain began service in 1978 and during the past 40 years has transported more than 108,000 patients, flown over 15 million miles, and completed more than 400 hoist rescues. The EMS-configured GrandNew can transport up to two stretchered patients at a time.

More than 390 AW109 Grand/GrandNew series have been ordered by more than 240 customers in 40 countries and are utilized in rescue, passenger transport, law enforcement, offshore transport, electronic news gathering, maritime patrol operations.