20 Sep 2017

The Starlite Aviation Group is a major provider of rotor wing and fixed wing HEMS services in Africa, Asia and Europe. The Company’s ability to mobilise complete rescue, relief and operational teams swiftly, safely and professionally has earned it a reputation of reliability and responsibility in any call to action.

Starlite’s Medevac Journey To Save Lives

Starlite Aviation Group founded in South Africa in 1999, moved its head office to Dublin in 2008 and now also has a presence in Mauritius. One of the group’s first rescue contracts was in support of the massive flood relief operation in Mozambique in 2000. The ability to mobilise and successfully operate three Puma 330J’s in extremely challenging circumstances, set the standard by which the company has continued to operate over the next 18 years. From the start the Company has built a history of successful accomplishments in the Medevac industry and a reputation of operational excellence in remote and challenging environments.

One of Starlite’s significant accomplishments was providing a full-time air ambulance service for the European Union in Kosovo, consisting of HEMS configured aircraft for day/night operations under all weather conditions. This included operating in snow and mountainous regions using NVG flight profiles with experienced aircrew and advanced life support medical personnel as well as a host of aircraft maintenance engineers and ground crew. Starlite constructed a dedicated hangar to house its personnel and aircraft from which it provided an uninterrupted service for the entire contract period, ensuring a 24-hour HEMS availability for its clients. The team of experienced aviation qualified Doctors, Paramedics and Flight Nurses provided the highest level of medical care to the sick and injured who required air transportation from the field to local hospitals, as well as inter-hospital transfers. Medical care provided was in line with recognised international standards. This was done using a comprehensive range of quality, sophisticated patient care equipment in conjunction with an advanced modular Intensive Care patient platform. All aircraft can be transformed and reconfigured to accommodate Mass Casualty capabilities should the need arise.

Starlite currently has a large operation in Mali where we have a fleet of rotor and a fixed wing aircraft providing a 24-hour intensive care medical platform operating in austere conditions to remote destinations. Starlite’s capabilities in Mali are extensive providing primary response into any environment, inter-hospital transport of ICU level patients, life-saving intervention for the critically injured at the point of injury followed by stabilisation and transportation of seriously ill and injured. This 24/7 time sensitive standby service is backed up by mission ready aircraft with teams of aviation specialists in the medical field who are highly skilled in planning and executing uninterrupted HEMS assignments.

The doctors employed are highly qualified, registered medical practitioners with extensive experience in Trauma, Cardiology, Surgery, Anaesthetics and aviation medicine. A team of skilled and highly qualified advanced life support paramedics specialising in pre-hospital emergency care and aviation healthcare are registered to administer a wide range of drugs and medication and perform a broad scope of practice.

“Starlite provides a turnkey solution enabling immediate access to an advanced life support ICU HEMS service and offers peace of mind to their patients, that they will be attended to by qualified medical personnel with top quality medical equipment in safe and excellently maintained aircraft flown by highly experienced pilots,” says Ian Klopper, Starlite’s Medical Manager.

Starlite’s superior fleet of rotor aircraft have varying configuration capabilities:

• BK117 – one ICU patient on a Bucher medical conversion platform
• Puma J – two ICU patients OR one ICU patient and 3 mascal patients OR 6 mascal patients on AAT platforms
• Puma L – two ICU patients OR one ICU patient and 2 mascal patients OR 4 mascal patients on Spectrum platforms
• Puma C1e – two ICU patients OR one ICU patient and 3 mascal patients OR 6 mascal patients on AAT platforms
• Bell 212 – one patient with full ICU capabilities on an AAT platform

Fixed Wing aircraft configuration capabilities:

• King Air B200 – two ICU patients on the latest Spectrum 2800 platforms