Survival Flight Services

SURVIVAL FLIGHT SERVICES

Aviation Transportation Provided by:

Rotor-wing Transport

Survival Flight leases three twin-engine Bell 430 Helicopters (two ships 24 hours a day, and the other for organ procurement - Aviation Services provided by Pentastar.)

One stationed 24 hours a day at the Livingston County Airport.

Survival Flight Bell helicopters fly at an average speed of 172 miles per hour and serve an air mile radius around Ann Arbor of approximately 200 nautical miles. For more distant destinations in Michigan, United States, Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean, transport by fixed-wing aircraft is used.

Survival Flight helicopters are capable of carrying a patient, medical crew, and a full complement of advanced life support equipment. The helicopter is equipped with avionics and advanced communication radios enabling Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) flying in inclement weather.

Survival Flight helicopters accommodate isolettes with ventilatory and invasive pressure monitoring capabilities for the neonate and infant. The isolette is nitric-ready for those patients requiring nitric ventilation for transport.

Fixed-wing Transport

For patient transports of greater distances Survival Flight uses Pentastar Aviation Charter who is solely responsible for control of all flight operations. A dedicated medically configured cabin pressurized fixed wing Cessna Citation Encore jet. These aircraft are capable of flying anywhere within the continental US, and Canada.

Survival Flight uses the same crew and sophisticated equipment used in the helicopter service. Specialty teams for neonatal, pediatric cardiology and Extracorporeal Life Support (ELS) are available to Survival Flight also.

Survival Flight requires dispatch personnel to obtain financial information for authorization of fixed-wing transports to University of Michigan Health Systems. For transports not returning to U of M Health Systems a guarantee of payment for the cost of the aircraft is required by our aircraft vendor.

A Survival Flight fixed wing medical crew can be airborne and usually on its way within two hours of receiving a request. Critically ill or injured patients can be delivered to a hospital selected by the attending physician, patient or family.

Ground Transportation

Survival Flight has a dedicated Freightliner ambulance for ground transport of patients who cannot be transported by air. The ambulance can accommodate all equipment found in our helicopter and fixed-wing aircraft.

Patient Services

We have a dedicated Intra-Aortic Balloon Pump and Abiomed, providing left and bi-ventricular assist needs for severely compromised cardiac patients. Our staff has experience transporting patients with a Heartmate and various other ventricular assist devices.

When specialized equipment for stabilizing pediatric or spinal cord injury patients is required, it can be added to the helicopter's in-flight intensive care environment.

For over 15 years, we have had the capabilities to transport patients requiring the Extracorporeal Life Support(ECLS).

Information on this site is not a tool for self-diagnosis or a substitute for professional care.