"King Air"?

[desert-cheetah]

I was listening to my Pro-95 here at work and it stopped on a Southwest Ambulance channel. I wish I'd thought to write down the freq, but I didn't. Anyway, the unit said they were en route to Flagstaff with an ETA of 12:15 and I thought, wow, that's quick. They must be a more northern unit that I'm picking up by some fluke. I am in North Scottsdale and there are no Phoenix hospitals, to my knowledge, that can get to Flagstaff in an hour. Anyway, the dispatch asked for clarification and the unit replied saying they were King Air and had 9 souls on board. Unless it's a super big ambulance, I'm thinking this is a fixed wing aircraft. I've never heard of King Air and I'm confused as to why they're transmitting on a Southwest Ambulance channel.

Has anyone else heard of them or their transmissions?

 

[sadatoni]

Beechcraft builds the King Air - a business class twin engine airplane. They make several other models as well.

(ok, it's now Hawker Beechcraft)

 

[kd7ckq]

Hear them all the time up north. We get them up here (No. AZ) when patients need to be flown out to other hospitals that are farther out than the helicopters can transport in a timely fashion. They usually give dispatch a call after take-off to let them know their Flt time or ETA, Fuel on Board, and how many souls are on board. Usually the same for 'Angel', 'King Air', 'Classic' and the other Air Ambulances that fly around Northern AZ.

 

[KD0LWU]

Yes, "King air" is a plane built by Beechcraft/Raytheon/Hawker Beechcraft, or whatever they are called this month.
It was just a reference to the aircraft they were using.

 

[desert-cheetah]

Thank you for confirming I was, in fact, hearing aircraft transmissions and it was a fixed wing, but on a Southwest Ambulance channel? That's the confusing part.

 

[K4IHS]

They might have been using a King Air type aircraft for a medical transport?

 

[desert-cheetah]

They might have been using a King Air type aircraft for a medical transport?

That's a good point and a probable one as well. Why else would SW care how many people were on board and what their ETA to Flagstaff was? Either way, it was different (to me) and kind of interesting.

 

[K4IHS]

Angel Med Flight comes to mind. They do use King Air aircraft. On their web site... look under Operations... then Airctaft. Air Ambulance,Medical Flight, Air Ambulance Services,Medevac, LifeFlight, Emergency Medical Transport, Air Evac

 

[desert-cheetah]

Angel Med Flight comes to mind. They do use King Air aircraft. On their web site... look under Operations... then Airctaft. Air Ambulance,Medical Flight, Air Ambulance Services,Medevac, LifeFlight, Emergency Medical Transport, Air Evac

Thank you