Even though there are a few hospitals with helipads in and around Brisbane, the Prince Charles Hospital is the one most used by Queensland's EMS helicopters. Here, VH-XCK just landed after a 1 hour 20 minutes long flight from the coastal city of Bundaberg. Due to Queensland's size, it is not rare for a EMS helicopter flight to last several hours. However, many times and to save cost, australian fixed-wing operator Royal Flying Doctor Service brings patients from remote places closer to a bigger city / airport, from where the patient is picked up by helicopter and flown directly to a clinic.

REGA Swiss Air Ambulance usually assigns certain helicopters to it's bases accross Switzerland, but keeps a few "spare" helicopters to cover the bases when the assigned helis are due for "heavy" maintenance, which is performed at REGA's HQ at Zurich airport. In 2021, HB-ZQL has not been assigned to a base but was used where needed.

During each winter season, Swiss Helicopter maintains this temporaly heliport near Gstaad to offer Helisking to the many tourists. For the night, the heli is flown to the nearby Swiss Helicopter base at Zweisimmen, where it is based for the rest of the year.

Over the years, Air Madagascar operated a total of four ATR-42, all of which have been replaced by ATR-72's. The last ATR-42 (and only -500) to join the fleet was 5R-MJG built in July of 2006. In September of 2016, this airframe was sold to Colombia where it continues to fly for EasyFly as HK-5199 at the time of upload.

Mailand Malpensa is a huge air cargo hub and therefore offers diversity in cargo aircraft traffic from around the globe. JA16KZ shown here is a 2014 built airframe and one of eight operated by Nippon Cargo Airlines (registered JA11KZ through JA18KZ).

A welcome "change" in the german HEMS market - dominated by the DRF and ADAC - is the Johanniter Luftrettung, which maintains a total of four HEMS bases and still operates a few AS-365 Dauphin and this sole EC155 helicopter. However, both types are also being replaced by the more modern H145 in the near future.

Before this 1989 built Cessna 560 joined Coulson Aviation in May 2020 (registered N40HT), it has seen service with some eight operators and carrying different registrations, such as N560W, XB-MTS and N570BJ.

Built in 2016, I-ROBS is currently the only AW169 operated by AirGreen, which also has six HEMS AW139 in it's inventory. Being quite large and expensive to maintain and operate, it seems that the AW139 are gradually being replaced by the AW169 and the H145 (EC145) in the italian HEMS market.

Besides two AS-332 Super Puma's, twenty AS-350B2 form the bulk of the LA County Sheriff Department helicopter fleet. N950LA joined the fleet in 2010 and is seen here taking off for another traffic surveillance flight in supurb evening light.

Based at Nenzing (Vorarlberg), Christophorus 8 is the most western ÖAMTC base in Austria. The modern base was built new in 2006 and is elevated some 8 meters above the ground. With a size of roughly 1000 square meters, the landing platform allows a safe flight operation.

Besides operating a few AS-350 for aerial work and tourism, Italian helicopter company Elikos also maintains a HEMS EC-135 (I-AIUT). Based at Pontives, Elikos is well established in Val Gardena and beyond and their helicopters can often be seen flying throughout the famous Dolomites mountains. I-EKOS is a 2018 built AS-350B3e and obviously covered with lots of promotional & advertising stickers in this picture.

This 2008 built A-Star first flew with Swiss Jet / Air Engiadina before joining the fleet of Air-Glaciers in 2012. It is seen here at Helimission's Headquarter in Trogen, conducting scenic flights during the festivities of Helimission's 45th anniversary.

Built in 2001, HB-ZDE flew with Air-Grischa till August of 2005, when it was sold to Rhein-Heli and based in Balzers (Lichtenstein) till July of 2012, when - unfortunately - Rhein-Heli together with many other traditional and standalone helicopter companies merged into Swiss Helicopter AG. Lichtenstein does not maintain its own aircraft registry, all its aircraft carry a HB-registration plus the flag of Lichtenstein instead of the Swiss cross required on Swiss aircraft.

Lübeck Air was founded in 2016 and operates one ATR-72 and since May 2022 this EMB-190, which is leased from German Airways. All flights are undertaken under IATA-Code 6I, which belongs to Air Alsie. Bern is one of a few destinations served from Lübeck via Stuttgart, with the ATR-72 usually, unless the passenger volume requires the bigger Embraer.

ZS-RPL was one of the first AS-350B3's introduced to the South African Police in 2002, gradually replacing the MBB BO-105's. The Ecureuil / A-Star fleet grew to 15 aircraft since, with at least one having suffered an accident. The force also operates a few fixed wing aircraft, among them eight Pilatus PC-6 and one PC-12.

Between 1962 and 1966, the procurement agency of the Swiss Armed Forces tested a piston engine powered PC-6 (S/N 530, serialled V-611), resulting in 12 units (V-612 through V-623) being introduced as from 1967. V-612 pictured here was manufactured in 1966 and the first of the initial batch. In 1980, all twelve were converted and equipped with the P&W PT-6 turboprop engine. A further six PC-6 Turbo Porters (V-630 through V-635) were added to the Swiss AF inventory in 1976. Having recently received an avionics upgrade, 14 remain in service at the time of upload, with no end in sight.

SchenkAir's "Robin 1" takes off from the elevated heliport situated on top of Dr. Schenk's sport and rehabilitation clinic in Schruns. Even though the rescue service and heliport has been existing since November 2000, it was so far restricted to which HEMS flights it could offer (basically limited to the local ski region and non life threatening accidents). Since February 1, 2023 however, «Robin 1» is part of Vorarlberg's official rescue concept, and equal to the other two EMS helis based in the region, namely «Christophorus 8» (ÖAMTC) and «Gallus 1» (Wucher).

To better cover the western part of Südtirol (Vinschgau), "Heli Flugrettung Südtirol" has based an EMS helicopter in Lasa since February 2020. What initially started as a 3 year seasonal trial program, has since developped into a permanent base. The following EC145 / H145 have so far operated as "Pelikan 3": I-SLND, I-AHTD, I-SUEM, I-ATLS and I-PTAH. I-LMBD pictured here was only based in Lana on March 1, 2023, as it was able to accomodate the night flying and spotlight equipment required to guarantee longer operating hours (between 8am and 8pm), well into the darkness during the wintertime.

Y-20's are still a rare sight but become frequent visitors to Europe it seems. Six were seen in Serbia in April 2022 while one participated in the AirPower'22 in Zeltweg. This airframe brought some 40 chinese soldiers to participe in a championship of mountain warfare experts called "Edelweiss Raid", taking place in Tirol annualy. It is seen here departing on Innbruck's RWY26 heading back empty to Urumqi in North-Western China via Tekirdag (Turkey) to refuel, taking the very same flight route it came in one and a half hours earlier.

The Y-20 is the biggest aircraft so far designed and produced by China. It first flew in 2013 and entered service with the PLAAF in 2016. Even though counting less than 40 frames at the time of upload, the Y-20 fleet already makes a difference in China's strategic capabilities. The airframe and avioincs are of modern design, the weak point being the Soviet developped Solowjow D-30KP-2 engines (also used on the IL-76), the orign of which dates back to the 1960's. The IL-76 served the chinese engieers as a model, resulting in the Y-20 having a similar look, dimensions & weights like the IL-76.