Supporting Australian communities with lifesaving aviation operations. 

We deliver and maintain the vital crews and equipment to maintain Ambulance Victoria’s reputation for world-class emergency aeromedical response, patient care and recovery from remote and difficult environments.

Ambulance Victoria (AV) aims to improve the health of the community by providing high quality pre-hospital care and medical transport. They provide emergency medical response to more than 6.5 million people in the Australian state of Victoria, which has a physical area of more than 227,000 square kilometres.

The organisation has a dedicated Air Ambulance division, which has a fleet of five rotary and four fixed wing aircraft supporting the community. Air Ambulance Victoria (AAV) is part of the Specialist Services Division within AV and provides a state-wide aero-medical response and flight coordination service.

We supply five state-of-the-art Leonardo Helicopter Division (LHD) AW139 twin engine helicopters, including a dedicated back-up aircraft to support the AAV operations.

We also provide Helicopter Emergency Medical Services (HEMS) from four AAV base locations in Victoria – Essendon, Latrobe Valley, Bendigo and Warrnambool. This ensures effective state coverage and for rural communities to have rapid access to our highest level of care and transport to major specialist care in the Melbourne metropolitan region. These services include inter-hospital transfers, pre-hospital time critical emergencies which are often trauma and paediatric cases, as well as search and rescue operations and transporting remote patients.

At a glance:

• Providing helicopters to Ambulance Victoria
• Playing a vital role in supporting paramedics in life-saving operations
• Providing Helicopter Emergency Medical Services from bases across Victoria
• Services include inter-hospital transfers, pre-hospital time critical emergencies and search and rescue operations

A one-team approach

Air Ambulance Victoria helicopters are operated by a crew of three, consisting of a Babcock pilot and Air Crew Officer (ACO) and an AAV MICA Flight Paramedic. Our crew play a vital role in supporting the paramedics in their life-saving operations and are an instrumental part of the service to the community. MICA Flight Paramedics are highly educated, trained and experienced Intensive Care Paramedics who have advanced clinical knowledge, skills and a high level of physical fitness to ensure they are capable of undertaking this demanding role.

We ensure that its crews maintain similar levels of skill and fitness to be able to assist the paramedics. The crew have a one-team approach to supporting each other and rely on the highest level of trust and crew resource management to deliver a safe and effective service.

Supplying state-of-the-art helicopters

All helicopters are equipped with a rescue winch allowing the MICA flight Paramedic to be lowered into very remote places to rescue patients including bushland, vessels and the ocean.

The fleet includes a standard model for all aircraft, with identical fit-out and equipment to assist in streamlining training and operational processes for MICA Flight Paramedics and crews.

Our long-term partnership with Ambulance Victoria and experience with HEMS has delivered considerable benefit to the community. Our expertise, commitment and focus on safe practices in the most challenging of circumstances has helped save countless lives.

Ambulance Victoria in numbers:

• Five state of the art helicopters
• Four AAV base locations in Victoria
• Supporting Air Victoria in its mission to provide emergency medical response to over 6.5 million people