Germany-based air rescue service DRF Luftrettung's station in Greifswald celebrated its birthday in April 2022, and considers the June arrival of its new five-blade Airbus H145 helicopter to be a belated gift.

Before the H145 arrived, it was seen by thousands of visitors at the Interschutz exhibition in Hanover. Greifswald station manager Bernd Rosenberger says: "We are very pleased that it is our turn, because we have heard so many positive things from colleagues who are already flying a five-blade aircraft; we are very excited.”

In addition to being able to transport higher payloads, the H145 is even quieter in the air thanks to the fifth rotor blade, and that benefits both patients and crew.

"The five-blade H145 not only has less vibration, the larger payload capacity also means we can take on more fuel with this helicopter, which increases the range even further," adds Rosenberger. In addition, the new Christoph 47, as it has been named, has a special feature: it is equipped with a sand filter to protect the engines and thus avoid faster wear.

DRF Luftrettung CEO Dr Krystian Pracz explains the background to the modernisation of DRF's fleet: “The commissioning of the new five-blade H145 represents a milestone in air rescue in Germany, and we are very proud of that. We made a conscious decision to deploy the system as soon as it is available, and to be the first to do so. We always have one goal in mind: to further improve the care of our patients in all areas relevant to air rescue, including people, medicine and technology.”

The first five-blade H145 arrived at the DRF Luftrettung facility in December 2020 and was converted for station service. Since then, the company has added others to its fleet. Greifswald is the eighth station to receive a machine of this type.

The station was founded in April 1990 and has been operated by DRF Luftrettung since April 1992, and is located at the University Hospital Greifswald. The crews have been flying around the clock since 3 August, 2020, which makes Christoph 47 the only rescue helicopter in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania that is available all day and all night. Last year the crews flew 1,546 sorties.