COLLEGE STATION, Texas — The Airmed 12 has only been in commission for about a week but it's already done its fair share of life-saving trips. The new state-of-the-art technology allows pilots to get to patients in weather conditions that, previously, it wouldn't have been able to reach.
The new aircraft makes flying easier for pilots by using automation rather than manual gauges. Billy Rice, Director of EMS at St. Joseph Hospital in College Station, says by making the pilots' jobs easier, they are able to reach people in need during cloudy conditions.
"Before we would have to turn flights down because we couldn't get to a scene because of the weather being too low. And we still can't get to everything if it's foggy. We can't land in the fog, for example,” Rice said.
"This new aircraft though, enables us to do that with a cloud layer.”
In the one week they've had the new aircraft, Rice says they've taken about two to three life-saving trips every day. That's why St. Joseph Hospital and Med-Trans Corporation are partnering to bring another fully-operational base, with an aircraft and roughly 10 person staff, to Leon county in the next few months.