Erlanger Medical Center’s Life Force aeromed rescue service has become the first in the U.S. to outfit its two Bell 412 helicopters with Honeywell’s Mk XXII enhanced ground proximity warning system (EGPWS). Life Force is a wide-reaching aeromed transport service based in Chattanooga, Tenn., and linking dozens of heath-care facilities throughout a four-state area in the Northeast. According to Erlanger director of air medical, Steve Straughen, Life Force earlier partnered with the FAA in the development of the world’s first civil nonprecision GPS approach. As a result, the service has been able to come to the aid of an estimated 1,260 patients who might otherwise never have benefited from aeromedical transport because of adverse weather conditions. The system has been credited with 27 documented aircraft saves, including the first helicopter/obstacle save with Erlanger’s MK XXII.
™