Air Methods

Air Methods, Corp.

Type	Public (NASDAQ: AIRM)
Industry	Air Services, Other
Founded	1980
Headquarters	Dove Valley, Colorado, USA[1]
Key people	Aaron D. Todd, CEO
Revenue	US$511 Million (FY 2009)[2]
Operating income	US$47.8 Million (FY 2009)[2]
Net income	US$29.0 Million (FY 2009)[2]
Total assets	US$424 Million (FY 2009)[3]
Total equity	US$197 Million (FY 2009)[3]
Employees	2,739[4]
Subsidiaries	FSS Airholdings Rocky Mountain Holdings Mercy Air Service LifeNet
Website	www.airmethods.com
References: 2007 Annual Report

Air Methods, Corp. (NASDAQ: AIRM) is the largest publicly owned emergency medical services helicopter operator in the United States, with a fleet of over 300 medical transport helicopters that average 85,000 transports and 100,000 flight hours per year as of December 2006.^[5]

Air Methods’ company headquarters are at Centennial Airport in Dove Valley, an unincorporated area of Arapahoe County, Colorado.^[6][7]

Contents 1 Subsidiaries and acquisitions 2 Service Models 3 Other services 4 Aircraft 5 Accidents 6 See also 7 References 8 External links

Subsidiaries and acquisitions

Air Methods provides air medical emergency transport services under two separate operating models: the Community-Based Model (CBM) and the Hospital-Based Model (HBM).

Rocky Mountain Holdings, LLC (RMH), Mercy Air Service, Inc. (Mercy Air), and LifeNet, Inc. (LifeNet) operate as wholly owned subsidiaries of Air Methods.^[8]

Air Methods purchased CJ Systems Aviation Group, a leading provider of aeromedical transport, in October 2007.^[9]

Service Models

Air Methods provides services through two basic programs; Community-Based Model (CBM) and Hospital-Based Model (HBM) operations. Under both programs Air Methods transports persons requiring intensive medical care from either the scene of an accident or general care hospitals to highly skilled trauma centers or tertiary care centers.

The CBM operates 105 bases at hospitals, fire stations or airports, operating more than 127 helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft and Air Methods employees provide medical care to patients en route.

The HBM delivery model serving 80 hospital customers in 33 states and operates a fleet of more than 170 hospital-based aircraft and medical care en route is provided by employees or contractors of customer hospitals.

Other services

The Air Methods Products Division designs, manufactures, and installs aircraft medical interiors and other aerospace or medical transport products.

Aircraft

In December 2007, a new Eurocopter EC 145 Air Ambulance was completed for the Mayo Clinic.^[10]

Accidents

Air Methods, as of 2006, has had a total of 19 accidents. Following a 2006 accident Craig Yale, the vice president of corporate development for Air Methods, stated in a news conference shortly after the accident that, "We fly over 100,000 hours a year, 85,000 missions a year, and in doing so have had very few fatal accidents over a 10-year period."

• In January 2005, an Air Methods helicopter crashed in Washington, D.C. with two dead and one injured, and another crashed in Mississippi killing one.^[11]
• On December 10, 2006 in the 2006 Mercy Air helicopter accident three were killed in a crash a Cajon Pass, California.
• On June 29, 2008, a Bell 407 medical helicopter operated by Air Methods collided with another medical helicopter in Arizona, killing six of the seven aboard both aircraft. Another Air Methods helicopter crashed in May in Wisconsin soon after taking off; three people were killed in that accident: the pilot, flight doctor and flight nurse.^[12]
• On July 28, 2010, LifeNet 12, a Eurocopter AS350 B3 crashed in Tucson Arizona killing all 3 crewmembers aboard. LifeNet 12 based out of Douglas Arizona was enroute back to Douglas from Marana Arizona. Witnesses describe the helicopter losing power in flight crashing into the street below. It appears from witnesses that the pilot was able to steer the aircraft away from landing into a house nearby.
• On August 26, 2011 four people (3 crew members and 1 patient) were killed when a LifeNet Eurocopter AS350 based at Rosecrans Airport and connected to Heartland Hospital in St. Joseph, Missouri crashed near Liberty, Missouri. Initial crash reports indicated it had run out of fuel. The helicopter had traveled 45 miles from St. Joseph to Harrison County Community Hospital in Bethany, Missouri to pick up a patient. It did not refuel before traveling another 70 miles en route to its intended destination at Liberty Hospital. It was reported to be within a mile of landing for fuel at Midwest National Air Center in Mosby, Missouri (near Liberty) when it crashed.^[13][14]

See also

• 2006 Mercy Air helicopter accident
• ARCH Air Medical Service

References

External links

• Air Methods official site