The DRF Luftrettung (formerly ''Deutsche Rettungsflugwacht e.V.)'' is part of the German

emergency medical services Emergency medical services (EMS), also known as ambulance services, pre-hospital care or paramedic services, are emergency services that provide urgent pre-hospital treatment and stabilisation for serious illness and injuries and transport to d ...

as a branch of the

air medical services Air medical services are the use of aircraft, including both fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters to provide various kinds of urgent medical care, especially prehospital, emergency and critical care to patients during Medical evacuation, aerome ...

. The DRF Luftrettung and its subsidiaries operate in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

, and

Liechtenstein Liechtenstein (, ; ; ), officially the Principality of Liechtenstein ( ), is a Landlocked country#Doubly landlocked, doubly landlocked Swiss Standard German, German-speaking microstate in the Central European Alps, between Austria in the east ...

. The organization's headquarter is in

Filderstadt Filderstadt (; Swabian German, Swabian: ''Fildorsdadd'') is a town in the Esslingen (district), district of Esslingen in Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. It is located approximately 13 km south of Stuttgart. Filderstadt is located n ...

. The DRF Luftrettung is Germany's second largest non-commercial air medical organization after the

ADAC The ADAC, officially the Allgemeiner Deutscher Automobil-Club (), is Europe's largest automobile association. The ADAC is the largest wikt:Verein, ''verein'' (club) in Germany, with around 21 million members. Its headquarters are located i ...

Luftrettung.

History

The accidental death of a young boy, Björn Steiger, on 3 May 1969, revealed an availability gap in rapid emergency medical care. His parents, Ute and Siegfried Steiger, then founded the rescue service foundation Björn Steiger e.V. (today

Björn Steiger Foundation The Björn Steiger Foundation (''Björn Steiger Stiftung'') is a German charity which assists in providing funding for emergency service Emergency services and rescue services are organizations that ensure public safety, security, and health by ...

). After presentations by Siegfried Steiger at the individual police stations in the operational radius around Mainz, the Björn Steiger Foundation started the first, six-week pilot test in cooperation with the German Red Cross (General Secretariat Bonn). Under the medical direction of Rudolf Frey (University of Mainz), a fully equipped rescue helicopter of the type Alouette 3 was in operation. On 6 September 1972 the "Deutsche Rettungsflugwacht German Air-Rescue e.V." (abbreviated: DRF) was founded as the first civilian air rescue organization in Germany. The DRF was financed and built up by the Björn Steiger Foundation, which also supported the DRF in terms of content. For this reason, from 1972 to 2008, the "Steiger Star" was part of the logo of the DRF, as well as the addition "An initiative of the Björn Steiger Foundation" attached on each rescue helicopter. In addition to Ute and Siegfried Steiger, the founding members of the DRF also included

Fritz Bühler Fritz is a common German male name. The name originated as a German diminutive of Friedrich or Frederick (''Der Alte Fritz'', and ''Stary Fryc'' were common nicknames for King Frederick II of Prussia and Frederick III, German Emperor), as well a ...

, founder of the Swiss Air-Rescue Service (today's REGA). Siegfried Steiger, as President of the Björn Steiger Foundation, became 1st Chairman of the DRF and

, as President of REGA, became Vice Chairman of the DRF. On 19 March 1973 the first rescue mission of the DRF helicopter stationed in Stuttgart took place. In 2020 the DRF Luftrettung was deployed a total of 39,971 times.

Mission

The organization's mission since its foundation on 6 September 1972 is to provide rapid assistance to emergency patients. In its early days, the DRF Luftrettung only operated emergency rescue helicopters in Germany. Since the 1980s, the organization has also operated several intensive care helicopters in cities like

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

Nuremberg Nuremberg (, ; ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the Franconia#Towns and cities, largest city in Franconia, the List of cities in Bavaria by population, second-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Bav ...

Regensburg Regensburg (historically known in English as Ratisbon) is a city in eastern Bavaria, at the confluence of the rivers Danube, Naab and Regen (river), Regen, Danube's northernmost point. It is the capital of the Upper Palatinate subregion of the ...

, Halle,

Hannover Hanover ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Lower Saxony. Its population of 535,932 (2021) makes it the List of cities in Germany by population, 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-l ...

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; ; Swabian German, Swabian: ; Alemannic German, Alemannic: ; Italian language, Italian: ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, largest city of the States of Germany, German state of ...

Mannheim Mannheim (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: or ), officially the University City of Mannheim (), is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, second-largest city in Baden-Württemberg after Stuttgart, the States of Ger ...

Freiburg Freiburg im Breisgau or simply Freiburg is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fourth-largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg after Stuttgart, Mannheim and Karlsruhe. Its built-up area has a population of abou ...

Dortmund Dortmund (; ; ) is the third-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, after Cologne and Düsseldorf, and the List of cities in Germany by population, ninth-largest city in Germany. With a population of 614,495 inhabitants, it is the largest city ...

Bremen Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (, ), is the capital of the States of Germany, German state of the Bremen (state), Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (), a two-city-state consisting of the c ...

Bad Berka Bad Berka () is a German spa town, situated in the south of Weimar region in the state of Thuringia. With its almost 8,000 inhabitants Bad Berka is the second biggest city in Weimarer Land district (after Apolda, 23,000). The river flowing throu ...

, with some of them being authorized to fly at night. Helicopters of the organization operate in a total of 35 locations in Germany, Austria, and Liechtenstein. The organization also conducts repatriation flights with fixed-wing air ambulances.

Fleet

The fleet consists of 60 helicopters, recognizable by their red and white colours, flying in Germany and abroad. The helicopters deployed for rescue operations are Airbus Helicopters H145 and

Airbus Helicopters H135 The Airbus Helicopters H135, formerly Eurocopter EC135, is a twin-engine civil light utility helicopter produced by Airbus Helicopters. It is capable of flight under instrument flight rules (IFR) and is outfitted with a digital automatic fligh ...

. Helicopters of the type

Bell 412 The Bell 412 is a utility helicopter of the Huey family manufactured by Bell Helicopter. It is a development of the Bell 212, with the major difference being the composite four-blade main rotor. It is a twin-turbine helicopter that has been ...

were retired at the end of 2015, and the last

MBB/Kawasaki BK 117 The MBB/Kawasaki BK 117 is a twin-engined light Utility helicopter, utility–transport helicopter. It was jointly developed and manufactured by Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm (MBB) of Germany and Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Kawasaki of Japan. MBB ...

was retired in 2020. The DRF Luftrettung was the first operator of the Airbus Helicopters 145 worldwide starting in 2014; it first went into operation on its base in Munich. In 2020 the DRF Luftrettung was the first operator in the EU of the Airbus Helicopters 145 D-3 with a 5-blade main rotor, and older H145 D-2 are being retrofitted to the D-3 standard. Two Learjet 35A aircraft are deployed for worldwide repatriations of ill or injured patients. The jets were specially adapted for this purpose and upgraded with intensive care equipment. The two jets are stationed at

Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden Airport Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden Airport (German: ''Flughafen Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden'') is the international airport of Karlsruhe, the third-largest city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg, and also serves the spa town of Baden-Baden. It is the sta ...

, which is also where the operation centre is located. The operation centre coordinates the ambulance flights and monitors the complete helicopter fleet. DRF Eurocopter EC135 Christoph 44 D-HDRK Göttingen 2017 04.jpg,

2024-10-24 133259 Hannover Christoph Niedersachsen.jpg, Airbus Helicopters H145 D-3 D-CCCA LJ35A DRF (7551284016).jpg,

Learjet 35A The Learjet Model 35 and Model 36 are a series of United States, American multi-role business jets and military transport aircraft manufactured by Learjet between 1973 and 1993. When used by the United States Air Force, they carry the designatio ...

Locations

Accidents and incidents

On 23 January 2018 a DRF EC135 helicopter was involved in an accident after having taken off from

for a practice flight. The helicopter collided with a small plane mid-air near

Oberhausen-Rheinhausen Oberhausen-Rheinhausen is a municipality in Northern Karlsruhe district in Baden-Württemberg, Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea t ...

. The reasons for the accident are unknown. Four people died in the crash with two people in each aircraft. The plane had taken off from

Basel Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...

and was on its way to

Speyer Speyer (, older spelling ; ; ), historically known in English as Spires, is a city in Rhineland-Palatinate in the western part of the Germany, Federal Republic of Germany with approximately 50,000 inhabitants. Located on the left bank of the r ...

Websites

Official website of the DRF Luftrettung

Official website of the ARA Flugrettung

Official website of the AP³ Luftrettung

Official website of NHC Northern Helicopter

References

{{Authority control DRF Luftrettung