Thames Valley Air Begins Night Flying

Thames Valley Air Ambulance (TVAA) and Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance (HIOWAA) began nighttime Helicopter emergency medical service (HEMS) operations across the South Central Ambulance Service (SCAS) region and the Isle of Wight.

TVAA's Airbus H135 helicopter, optimized for night operations, is flown by Bond pilots wearing night-vision goggles. Bond operates an identical helicopter on behalf of HIOWAA. The two aircraft will provide an additional seven hr of coverage every night until 2 a.m. across the counties of Berkshire, Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Hampshire and the Isle of Wight. Both services will remain operational in their respective counties for 12 hr every day and then take it in turn for a period of 16 consecutive nights to cover the seven-hr night-service for all of the South Central region and the Isle of Wight.