Mayo Clinic Ambulance Service presses new upgraded helicopter into service

Mayo Clinic Ambulance Service will put its new upgraded Airbus H145-D3 helicopter in service.

Mayo has three helicopters being upgraded to this new model; one in Eau Clarie, another one in Mankato, and this one in Rochester at Mayo Clinic Saint Marys Hospital. These new models are two generations ahead of the current helicopter fleet. Mayo said the care will remain the same as the helicopters can do everything Mayo does in an ICU, but this new vehicle can hold additional care team members.

“We fly it typically nurse, paramedic,” Kate Arms, operations manager at Mayo Clinic Ambulance Service, said. “It takes a number of years to be able to have the training and experience that you need to qualify for our teams.”

Other features of this aircraft model are two separate engines, high flight stability and fully coupled approaches to hover.

“D-3s have this extra rotor blade and different blades on here more aerodynamically efficient, smoother, and will also provide us additional lift,” Patrick Hammann, Mayo Clinic Ambulance Service chief pilot, said.

Mayo said the new aircraft provides safety in weather conditions and higher weight limits for additional care team members. Hammann said on average a week, the helicopter does about 20 flights and that’s just from one base.

Mayo Clinic purchased its first helicopter in October of 1984, named Mayo One. KTTC News