Life Flight Network is a non profit air and ground critical care transport service based in Aurora, Oregon, in the northern

Willamette Valley The Willamette Valley ( ) is a long valley in Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. The Willamette River flows the entire length of the valley and is surrounded by mountains on three sides: the Cascade Range to the eas ...

, with services in Oregon,

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyomi ...

, and

Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columb ...

in the United States.

Operations

Service area

It has 23 locations throughout the Columbia, Willamette and Snake river watersheds.

Bases

Life Flight Network operates bases across the Pacific Northwest in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Montana. *In Oregon there are bases in Aurora, Cottage Grove, Newport, Astoria, Pendleton, Redmond, Ontario, La Grande, and Salem. *In Washington there are bases in Kelso, Brewster, Moses Lake, Richland, Pullman, Spokane, Dallesport, Port Angeles, Coupeville, and Walla Walla. *In Idaho there are bases at Boise, Burley, Sandpoint, Lewiston, and Coeur d'Alene. *In Montana there are bases in Missoula, Butte, and Bozeman. *It also has fixed-wing bases in Aurora, Boise, Dallesport, Moses Lake, La Grande, Richland, Butte, Lewiston, and Port Angeles. LifeFlight gained part 135 certification in 2013 from the Boise Idaho FSDO. In 2013 LifeFlight chose the Agusta 119KX as its helicopter platform leasing them for 10 years from a Chinese firm. Arizona-based Tri-State care flight assisted LFN in bridging the gap by allowing LFN to operate their new aircraft under Tri State’s 135 certificate while maintaining in-service status and attaining their own part 135 certificate. Currently as of 2021 LFN is dissolving its A119Kx fleet and replacing them with Bell 429s and 407s as the 10-year lease is coming due.

Fleet and equipment

As of 2021 Life Flight Network has a combined fleet of medical helicopters, fixed-wing aircraft, and ground ambulances. Specific fleet vehicles include: *

AgustaWestland AW119 Koala The AgustaWestland AW119 Koala, produced by Leonardo since 2016, is an eight-seat utility helicopter powered by a single turboshaft engine produced for the civil market. Introduced as the Agusta A119 Koala prior to the Agusta-Westland merger, ...

"Koala" *

AgustaWestland AW109 The AgustaWestland AW109, originally the Agusta A109, is a lightweight, twin-engine, eight-seat multi-purpose helicopter designed and initially produced by the Italian rotorcraft manufacturer Agusta. It was the first all-Italian helicopter to ...

"Power" * Eurocopter EC135 *

Bell 429 The Bell 429 GlobalRanger is a light, twin-engine helicopter developed by Bell Helicopter and Korea Aerospace Industries. First flight of the Bell 429 prototype took place on February 27, 2007,Bell 407 The Bell 407 is a four-blade, single-engine, civil utility helicopter. A derivative of the Bell 206L-4 LongRanger, the 407 uses the four-blade, soft-in-plane design rotor with composite hub developed for the United States Army's OH-58D Kiowa W ...

Cessna Citation CJ4 The Cessna CitationJet/CJ/M2 (also known as the Model 525) are a series of light business jets built by Cessna, and are part of the Citation family. Launched in October 1989, the first flight of the Model 525 was on April 29, 1991. Federal Av ...

* Pilatus PC-12

Crew

Each medical flight typically includes a

Flight Nurse A flight nurse is a registered nurse who specialises in the field of providing comprehensive pre-hospital, emergency critical care, and hospital care to a vast scope of patients. The care of these patients is generally during aeromedical evacuat ...

Flight Paramedic A flight paramedic is a paramedic who provides care to sick and injured patients in an aeromedical environment. Typically a flight paramedic works with a registered nurse, physician, respiratory therapist, or another paramedic. Flight paramedics m ...

, and

Pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators, because they a ...

. Neonatal nurses and

respiratory therapists A respiratory therapist is a specialized healthcare practitioner trained in critical care and cardio-pulmonary medicine in order to work therapeutically with people who have acute critical conditions, cardiac and pulmonary disease. Respirator ...

may also accompany patients requiring specialty care during transport.

Ownership and funding

The consortium of Oregon Health & Science University, Legacy Emanuel Medical Center, Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center, and Providence Health & Services own Life Flight Network Life Flight is supported by annual membership fees and other sources of revenue.

References

External links

* Air ambulance services in the United States Airlines based in Oregon Companies based in Marion County, Oregon Medical and health organizations based in Oregon Non-profit organizations based in Oregon Aurora, Oregon {{emergency-services-stub