UW Med Flight

University of Wisconsin Med Flight is an air ambulance service based at University of Wisconsin Hospital in Madison, Wisconsin. Med Flight was established in 1985, and serves patients within a 225-mile radius of Madison.

History
The first operational flight was in April 1985 and carried a heart attack patient from Coloma, Wisconsin who survived. The initial staff was three doctors, six nurses, three pilots and one mechanic. There was no aircraft hanger and maintenance on the aircraft was performed outside with a helipad in the parking lot. There was also some controversy in nearby Shorewood Hills, Wisconsin over noise from the helicopter. 20 years later, it was staffed by a rotating crew of 23 doctors, 12 nurses, eight communications specialists and six pilots and had three helicopters and a ground ambulance. In 2005, an $8 million project created a heliport on the 8th floor rooftop of the hospital replacing the parking lot landing pad and created larger hangars to support three aircraft. The ambulance was added in 2004 for inter-hospital transports to reduce costs and free a helicopter for emergency transports.

Fleet
As of 2008, the Med Flight fleet included two Eurocopter EC 135 helicopters, and. was destroyed in a fatal crash on May 10, 2008. The EC 135 helicopters replaced three Agusta A109E 'Power', and, helicopters in July 2007 at a cost of $4 million each. The helicopters are operated and maintained by Air Methods, formerly CJ Systems Aviation Group.

Incidents
One of the Agusta aircraft was forced to make an precautionary landing in a field in the town of Rutland, Wisconsin on Friday July 28, 2006 after an equipment warning light activated.

On May 10, 2008, helicopter, known as Med Flight 1, crashed near La Crosse, Wisconsin, fatally injuring all three crew members. Initial reports indicated that the helicopter "may have flown into a hill and or struck some trees."