KingAir 350 Air Ambulance Upholstery Project

[NDAV8R]

Hey there gang: Well, its been a while since I posted anything here. I have been busy doing welding, machining and a lot of small upholstery projects for the Fargo Jet Center. (where I work)   The latest big project was to convert a brand new 8 million dollar aircraft into a flying ambulance. It has been a 6 month long project including sending the plane to get new paint. The customer is the Mayo Clinic out of Rochester, MN. This is the first time a 350 KingAir have been converted.
Here is the front cockpit, IPOD pouches were installed on lower side panels...

Rear cabin shots looking forward...

Overhead instruments and rail system installed with the one off custom mounts I fabricated and were polished...

Aft section with some cabinetry...

LED lights were installed in the headliner, all seats were recovered, headrests were Embroidered with Mayo's logo, Loncoin flooring was installed, new fabrication stainless steel side walls were installed, all new USB, and com jacks were installed throughout the cabin.

Folding table recovered with customer communication jacks installed.

Here is the plane inside our shop...

And outside one of our hangers...

Our first Air Ambulance project a couple of years ago, involved just 2 other guys and myself. This complex-ed project involved myself and over a dozen other aviation techs.

[SteveA]

That's impressive work -  I would think for 8 million it could be made to order without an overhaul ?  Well what's another few bucks to get it to where they want it.
I don't think that plane would fit in my shop -  the ceiling is too low I'd have to let the air out of the tires. 
Glad your posting again

SA

[baileyuph]

Looked to be a twin engine - correct to assume to be jets? 

Is this literally a first ambulance?  Something I never thought about, air ambulance.

Correct to understand it will be used to mainly perform local travel - mainly at least?

There is a lot in the photos to suggest definitely high tech.

Your work sounds great, a big variety of work for specialized vehicles.

Who did the embroidery - someone in the work force?  That has gotten to be pretty high tech for sure.  Some of those domestic machines are pushing 16 grand.  You might have farmed that out, given a machine on hand would not be used enough to justify.

Good to hear you are still enjoying your work.

Doyle

[Mojo]

Awesome work.

The King Air is an awesome plane. Had a friend who owned one and he loved it. Said it was a nice handling plane.

While all the other guys in NASCAR were going to jets, he held on to his King Air.

Chris

[NDAV8R]

Hey there Doyle:
   This twin engine is a turboprop airplane that hauls patients I guess from local to very distant flights. The embroidery was farmed out. There are many air ambulances in the work force right now, but this is the very first King Air 350 to serve as one. The 350 has a dual aft cargo door, which has a small walk in door with in the large swing up cargo door.
  A lot of single engine turbo prop Pilatus aircraft are used for their very big door and their ability to land in remote places. Plus the annual maintenance factor is so much cheaper than a twin.
  The was a tremendous amount of engineering involve on this project.  Every one of us including the avionic techs to the mechanical techs to me, were so glad to see this project done.

[gene]

Awesome! Thanks for the pics.

I hate to think of someone bleeding all over that upholstery. But then, that's better than the alternative.

With all the seats I would think that that will also be used to haul execs around?

gene

[NDAV8R]

Thanks Gene:
    Your thoughts about getting used is real. We get our past air ambulance projects as well as others in here for scheduled maintenance and you should see them...just beat to a pulp! I guess in the heat of the moment of saving lives, you don't watch if the gurney is tearing up anything or worrying if a little blood drips on something.  We do protect ourselves as much as we can...I have found hypodermic needles laying around in them!! Always use caution.

Gale.

[Darren Henry]

great to hear from you again Gale and thanks for sharing. WOW that is some project.

Around here they use alot of helicopters for air ambulance so they can land at the crash scene and at the hospital. I can see where the plane would have a longer range and higher speed though. You would also be able to transport more "walking wounded" with all those seats as well.

[Mojo]

Darren:

The life flight / med-evac operations in the USA are all done by helicopter. The planes such as the one Gale worked on are used for long distance transfers of patients from one hospital to another maybe in another State. One other thing they use these planes for is the transport of organs for transplants. A lot of times they transport the donor organ along with a surgeon who will assist at the operation of the patient the organ is going into.

I have a buddy who flies helicopters ( Life flights ). He is a former Army cobra pilot. I have had two buddies who are airline pilots who flew air ambulances. One flew a large prop plane like this and the other flew lear jets that were converted to air ambulances.

You should see the bills for these flights. A helicopter life flight / evacuation can run well over $ 10 K with most costing $ 12 - 15 K ( for a 15 minute flight to a trauma center ). If you get in a crash down here and have to be medi-vacced out and then you need surgery at the hospital and your talking well over $ 100 K.

My wifes appendectomy ( she walked in BTW ) was $ 85 K. She was in and out of the hospital in less then 24 hours. Canadians never travel down here without getting an insurance policy. The moral of the story is " never get sick in America ". :)

Chris

[scottymc]

Your a bit old fashioned Chris, you don't need travel insurance anymore. If you need to pay a bill cause you had an accident whilst on holiday, crowd fund it.  ;)

[Mojo]

Your a bit old fashioned Chris, you don't need travel insurance anymore. If you need to pay a bill cause you had an accident whilst on holiday, crowd fund it.  ;)

Speaking of insurance, I am being invaded by a group of Aussies in November. My MIL, SIL and nephew are coming to stay with us for 6 weeks.

As if one bloody Sheila isn't enough. :)

Chris