Survival Flight Facts

  • University of Michigan utilizes 3 identical Eurocopter EC-155 Helicopters and a Bombardier Lear Jet 75.
  • There are 10 Communication Specialists
  • There are 24 RN's
  • There are 9 full time maintenance technicians with two on call 24 hours/day, plus a logistics specialist.
  • There are 10 helicopter pilots and 8 dedicated fixed wing pilots.
  • Each flight staff member has their own voice activated helmet equipped with Night Vision Goggles
  • Survival Flight travels all over the country by ground, rotor-wing and fixed-wing to pick up and deliver patients to care facilities
  • Survival Flight has used 5 different rotor-wing aircraft over the past 37 years:
    • The first Survival Flight rotor-wing aircraft was a Eurocopter A Star
    • The second rotor-wing aircraft was a Twinstar
    • The third was a Bell 230
    • The fourth was a Bell 430
    • The fifth and currently used aircraft is a Eurocopter EC-155
    • If there is a 6th generation rotorcraft fleet at UofM, what will it be?
  • Eurocopter, a European rotorcraft manufacturing conglomerate, was acquired by aerospace manufacturing conglomerate AirBus became known as AirBus Helicopters in 2014.
  • Survival Flight helicopters travel 350 miles around Ann Arbor and even to the U.P.
  • The EC-155 has a maximum gross Wt. of 10,846 lbs. and can carry 338 gallons of Jet Fuel. The aircraft will consume 110 gallons of fuel, per hour.
  • The main rotor blades spin 342 rotations per minute and the tail rotor spins 3575 rotations, per minute.
  • 175 knots is the maximum airspeed for the EC-155. 175 knots equals 210 Miles per hour.
  • The normal curse speed for the EC-155 is 150 knots, or 172 miles per hour.
  • The EC-155 has a range of 350 nautical miles with a 30 minute fuel reserve.
  • A knot is equal to 6076 feet per hour
  • A nautical mile is equal to 1.15 miles
  • 1 knot = 1 nautical mile per hour = 6076 feet per hour
  • 1 mph = 1 mile per hour = 5280 feet per hour
  • 1 mile per hour is the same as 5280 feet per hour
  • The EC-155 on takeoff produces 1868 hp
    • 1 of its 2 engines can produce as much as 1060 hp
  • Survival Flight has flown 5.7 million miles over the past 37 years.
  • Distance to moon from earth approx. 24 times.
  • Circumference of earth approx. 230 times.
  • Survival Flight flies approximately 150,000 miles per year.
  • The Lear Jet is crewed by two Airline Transport Pilots every flight.
  • The Lear Jet can fly to a height of 51,000 feet
  • The Lear Jet can fly over 535 miles per hour (0.81 Mach).
  • The Communication Specialists monitor 7 radios, 9 phone lines, and have taken over 200,000 aircraft position reports
  • Survival Flight tracks all aircraft using satellites. Updated positions are sent every 30 seconds.
  • There are 236 airports in Michigan
  • There are 83 counties in Michigan
  • In the first year of operation Survival Flight visited 53 counties in Michigan
  • The Transplant Team uses the helicopter to obtain and transplant various organs
  • The isolette for neonates weights 192 lbs.
  • Everything on the aircraft is weighted and the aircrafts current weight and balance is calculated for each leg of each flight.
  • Survival Flight has been the original Flight service in Michigan since 1983
  • The average number Survival Flight and other flight program patient transport helicopter landings at Michigan Medicine is 356 per year.

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Aviation Services provided by , Metro Aviation is responsible for Operational Control of all flight operations and staffing of flight crew and maintenance technicians.

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