Chinese medical evacuation provider Beijing Red Cross Emergency Medical Center (999) has selected Dassault's Falcon 2000LX for air ambulance operations. When the large cabin business jet and former demonstrator enters service in September, it will be the first fixed-wing aircraft in China equipped to perform air ambulance missions.
The 4,000nm (7,400km) twin will be retrofitted with a complete medevac interior by the airframer’s maintenance, repair and overhaul facility in Wilmington, Delaware.
The 999 2000LX will be equipped with an electrical patient loading system and a full medical suite - including stretcher, dedicated lighting, a three-bottle oxygen supply, monitoring and analysis equipment. “It will also be able to accommodate special devices like defibrillators electrocardiographs, and a blood bank,” Dassault says.
999 is one of the country's air ambulance pioneers, Dassault continues, and was was the first air medevac provider in the country to launch a three-dimensional rescue package combining ambulances, helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft. “In the decade it has been in operation, it has provided pre-hospital rescue and medical treatment service for over 3 million patients,” the airframer adds.
“There are few aircraft platforms in the world capable of handling the demanding requirements 999 set for this medevac aircraft,” Dassault Aviation’s senior vice president civil aircraft, Olivier Villa concedes.
“[Its] specifications included a robust and reliable platform suitable for all types of medevac missions, including treatment of the Ebola virus; the ability to access difficult airfields like Lhasa, Tibet located some 12,000ft above sea level; and an air circulation system capable of providing ultra fresh cabin air for in-flight surgery and patient care. The Falcon 2000LX met them all,” he says.
Dassault has sold a number of Falcons for medevac missions. Two 2000LXs were delivered in 2011 to the French air force’s ET 60 squadron - formerly dubbed ETEC.
Source: FlightGlobal.com
