Air medical services are the use of aircraft, including both fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters to provide various kinds of medical care, especially prehospital, emergency and critical care to patients during aeromedical evacuation and rescue operations.
A Sécurité Civile EC145 helicopter conducts rescues operations for the French Minister of the Interior
Sequence image of mountain take-off by an Agusta A109 SP Grand "Da Vinci" helicopter from Rega air rescue service
A Eurocopter EC 145 of Switzerland's Rega air rescue service
Air ambulances often employ high-visibility colour schemes, like Ontario's distinctive ORNGE helicopters. An ORNGE AgustaWestland AW139 is shown with the Toronto skyline in the background.
A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes allow helicopters to be used in congested or isolated areas where fixed-wing aircraft and many forms of short take-off and landing (STOL) or short take-off and vertical landing (STOVL) aircraft cannot perform without a runway.
A Bell 206 helicopter operated by the Los Angeles Police Department Air Support Division
Cabin view looking out from a helicopter in flight
Bell 412CF looking forward from the tail, showing its twin turbine endinge exhausts
1956 Hiller YROE-1 one-man "Rotorcycle" being tested at NASA Ames Research Center
