Ålesund Heliport, Hospital () is a

heliport A heliport is a small airport which has a helipad, suitable for use by helicopters, powered lift, and various types of vertical lift aircraft. Designated heliports typically contain one or more touchdown and liftoff areas and may also hav ...

situated on the premises of Ålesund Hospital in

Ålesund Ålesund () is a List of towns and cities in Norway, town in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. The town is the administrative centre of Ålesund Municipality. The centre of the town of Ålesund lies on the islands of Hessa, Aspøya, Ålesund, Asp� ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

. Used exclusively for

air ambulance 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 aeromedical evacuation an ...

services, it is home to an

AgustaWestland AW139 The AgustaWestland AW139, now known as the Leonardo AW139, is a 15-seat medium-sized twin-engined helicopter developed and produced by the Italian helicopter manufacturer AgustaWestland, now part of Leonardo. It is marketed at several differ ...

operated by

Lufttransport Lufttransport is a Norwegian helicopter and fixed-wing airline that operates primarily air ambulance helicopters and planes for the Norwegian and Swedish governments. In addition the airline offers services including surveillance for the Norwe ...

on contract with the

Norwegian Air Ambulance The Norwegian Air Ambulance Service ( Norwegian: ''Den norske luftambulansetjenesten'') is organised through the government owned limited company Luftambulansetjenesten HF (formerly ''Helseforetakenes Nasjonale Luftambulansetjeneste ANS''). The ser ...

. The base is owned by the

Møre og Romsdal Hospital Trust Møre og Romsdal Hospital Trust () is a health trust which covers Møre og Romsdal, Norway. The trust is owned by Central Norway Regional Health Authority and is headquartered in Ålesund. It operates four hospitals: Kristiansund Hospital, Molde Ho ...

. The base opened in 1988.

History

The Ministry of Health and Social Affairs appointed a commission which in 1986 recommended that a national state-funded helicopter ambulance service be established. Ålesund Central Hospital was selected as one of eight helicopter bases.

Ålesund Airport, Vigra Ålesund Airport (, ), or alternatively Ålesund Vigra Airport, is an international airport serving the Ålesund (town), town of Ålesund in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is located on the Vigra (island), island of Vigra in Giske Municipali ...

was selected as a base for a fixed-wing ambulance. Until 1992 the base covered the northern parts of

Sogn og Fjordane Sogn og Fjordane (; literally "Parish and the Fjords") was a Counties of Norway, county in western Norway, from 1 January 1919 to 31 December 2019, after it was merged to become part of Vestland county. Bordering previous counties Møre og Romsda ...

, until the opening of

Førde Heliport, Central Hospital Førde Heliport, University Hospital (; ) is a heliport situated on the premises of Førde Central Hospital in the Vie neighborhood of Sunnfjord, Norway. Used exclusively for air ambulance services, it is home to a Eurocopter EC-135P2+ operated ...

. The first operating contract was awarded to

Mørefly Mørefly A/S was an airline and general aviation company which operated between 1955 and 1995. Based in Ålesund Municipality and later Giske Municipality, Norway, it was involved in a wide range of operations, the most dominant being air ambulan ...

, including both the heliport and the airport operations, and lasted until 31 December 1992. It succeeded as renewing its contract, which lasted until 31 December 1998. However, the service was later transferred to Lufttransport, a sister company of Mørefly. Operations at this time were provided using a Eurocopter SA365. Medical personnel during this period was provided by

Møre og Romsdal County Municipality Møre og Romsdal County Municipality () is the democratically elected regional governing administration of Møre og Romsdal county in western Norway. The main responsibilities of the county municipality includes the running of 23 upper secondar ...

, consisting of ten physicians and nine nurses, all in a half position at with the helicopter service.Ministry of Health and Social Affairs: 47

Facilities

The heliport is situated on the premises of Ålesund Hospital, situated east of the center of the town of Ålesund, in the village of Åse. The facility is owned and operated by Møre og Romsdal Hospital Trust, part of

Western Norway Regional Health Authority Western Norway Regional Health Authority () is a public ownership, state-owned regional health authority (Norway), regional health authority responsible for operating the hospitals in the counties of Rogaland and Vestland in Norway. Based in Stava ...

. The

helipad A helipad is the landing area of a heliport, in use by helicopters, powered lift, and vertical lift aircraft to land on surface. While helicopters and powered lift aircraft are able to operate on a variety of relatively flat surfaces, a fa ...

is placed next the building complex used by the helicopter, along with a

hangar A hangar is a building or structure designed to hold aircraft or spacecraft. Hangars are built of metal, wood, or concrete. The word ''hangar'' comes from Middle French ''hanghart'' ("enclosure near a house"), of Germanic origin, from Frankish ...

. The helipad has a diameter of and a

safety area Safety area may refer to: * Safety area (shooting) - in practical shooting, a bay where shooters can handle and holster unloaded firearms * Runway safety area - surface surrounding runway in case of an aircraft departing the runway {{disambi ...

of . From the helipad there is a path to the

emergency department An emergency department (ED), also known as an accident and emergency department (A&E), emergency room (ER), emergency ward (EW) or casualty department, is a medical treatment facility specializing in emergency medicine, the Acute (medicine), ...

of the hospital.

Operations

The ambulance helicopter is operated by Lufttransport on contract with the National Air Ambulance Service. They have an AgustaWestland AW139 stationed at the heliport. The helicopter has room for a crew of three, consisting of a pilot, rescue swimming and an

anesthesiologist Anesthesiology, anaesthesiology or anaesthesia is the medical specialty concerned with the total perioperative medicine, perioperative care of patients before, during and after surgery. It encompasses anesthesia, intensive care medicine, critica ...

, as well as two stretchers. Medical staff are provided by the University Hospital of North Norway. The helicopter flew 752 missions lasting 676 hours in 2013. From 2005 to 2011 the base was used an average 15 times annually by the Sea King rescue helicopters.

References

Bibliography

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Alesund Heliport, Hospital Heliports in Norway Airports in Møre og Romsdal Buildings and structures in Ålesund Airports established in 1988 1988 establishments in Norway