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.

 

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