August 13, 2002 at 4:25 pm
Can sombody tell me what aircraft the Air Ambulance is?
Looks French or Italian?
Thanks,
Ted.
By: EGNM - 15th August 2002 at 15:15
RE: Virgin Air Ambulance
lol – wel i got a D in GCSE french!!! – never got past Cat n Dog in the Animal section!!!
By: munnst - 15th August 2002 at 12:51
RE: Virgin Air Ambulance
re:
The old AS365N2 Dauphin (not Dolphin!!) G-HEMS
Can I just clear up your clear up and point out that Dauphin is French for Dolphin, hence my reference 🙂
By: EGNM - 14th August 2002 at 20:26
RE: Virgin Air Ambulance
Hi all – lets clear this one up!!!
The old AS365N2 Dauphin (not Dolphin!!) G-HEMS (Helicopter Emergency Medical Service) was retired from it’s role in 1999/2000 as it’s lease from McAlpine Helicopters expired and they sold it on. The MD902 Explorer (as is our local police helicopter) was taken on due to it’s lack of tail roter as the AS365 – which had a Fenistron tail roter was a fairly Long Helo – an there were a couple of cases of this a/c having tailstrikes when it landing in the compact surroundings of whatever was available in london – building sites, parks, skool playgrounds etc (see AAIB website) the lack of tail rotar and use of directional air vectoring compensates for this and gives the a/c a distinctive whining sound as it flies over – it is also about 25% quieteer than the average Helo with a tail rotar.
By: A330Crazy - 14th August 2002 at 20:03
RE: Virgin Air Ambulance
Perhaps Munnst this is the one you have seen?
Picture at this address… http://www.naaas.co.uk/images/wallpaper/hems_800.jpg
This is the old Virgin Helicopter, the one in the pictures above is the one that they use now.
By: A330Crazy - 14th August 2002 at 18:34
RE: Virgin Air Ambulance
[updated:LAST EDITED ON 14-08-02 AT 07:33Â PM (GMT)]Hate to tell you but thats not the Air Ambulance that Virgin use, below is a pic of G-HEMS, in the Virgin c/s and in its former c/s… Daily Express Newspaper.
Its a Eurocopter AS.365N Dauphin 2. So AndrewM was right!!!
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By: KabirT - 14th August 2002 at 16:39
RE: Virgin Air Ambulance
[updated:LAST EDITED ON 14-08-02 AT 04:39Â PM (GMT)]:D….They are widely used in the air ambulance role.
By: munnst - 14th August 2002 at 16:32
RE: Virgin Air Ambulance
Yes, that looks like the one!
By: KabirT - 14th August 2002 at 13:08
RE: Virgin Air Ambulance
i bet its the MD Explorer….
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By: munnst - 14th August 2002 at 12:57
RE: Virgin Air Ambulance
Yes, I know. The one they are using NOW does not!
By: KabirT - 14th August 2002 at 12:54
RE: Virgin Air Ambulance
yup…much smaller than Dauphin.
By: munnst - 14th August 2002 at 12:54
RE: Virgin Air Ambulance
I don’t think it is the helicopted you have pictured.
The virgin one has a pipe out the back, no tail rotor.
It is also more square.
Will pop around to the Whitechapel Hosital and get a pic.
By: Ja Worsley - 14th August 2002 at 12:40
RE: Virgin Air Ambulance
Nice pick, and nice aircraft, they are smaller than the Dauphane aren’t they?
Give me coffee and no-one gets hurt!
By: A330Crazy - 14th August 2002 at 10:58
RE: Virgin Air Ambulance
The Virgin Air Ambulance uses the same helicopter as shown below, except its red.
The Eurpcopter EC-135T
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By: andrewm - 14th August 2002 at 09:51
RE: Virgin Air Ambulance
Aerospatiale SA365N Dauphin does have a tail rotor!
By: KabirT - 14th August 2002 at 09:27
RE: Virgin Air Ambulance
ok…i dont know it might be MD Explorer…they dont have tail rotors. Or maybe new models of Eurocopter which are roterless also.
By: munnst - 13th August 2002 at 22:21
RE: Virgin Air Ambulance
Dolphin, that’s the helo that they used to fly.
This one does not have a tail rotor?
By: A330Crazy - 13th August 2002 at 20:46
RE: Virgin Air Ambulance
Saw a Virgin Air Ambulance yesterday… not sure of its no., it flew quite low over the top of my house, and landed about 2 miles away.
By: andrewm - 13th August 2002 at 17:34
RE: Virgin Air Ambulance
If ur talking about G-HEMS.
Its an Aerospatiale SA365N Dauphin I believe!