Cornwall Air Ambulance, July 08, 2025 - Cornwall Air Ambulance’s second lifesaving helicopter has officially arrived at the charity’s airbase in Newquay.
The new AW169, G-CNLL, was brought over to the UK from Leonardo Helicopters in Italy earlier this year. It then underwent several months’ worth of work for its medical fit at Gama Aviation in Gloucester, to turn it into a fully functioning critical care resource.
The arrival of the second helicopter is a major milestone in the charity’s history. It is thanks to the generosity of the public during the 18-month Heli2 Appeal, which raised £2.85million towards the additional aircraft.
Tim Bunting, Chief Executive, said: “This is a momentous day for Cornwall Air Ambulance and the people of Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. We were the very first UK Air Ambulance service – and our latest arrival today will help us continue to save many more lives and provide the best possible service. Thanks to the generosity of a huge number of people, we now have two state-of-the-art helicopters at our disposal. This enables us to provide the very best possible critical care service to those who need us. We could not have done this without your support, so on behalf of all of us here at the charity, thank you.”
Owning a second technologically advanced AW169 helicopter will significantly boost the charity’s versatility, capability and resilience, by enabling the crew to attend more of their missions by air across their 365-day-a-year service.
Adam Smith, Unit Chief Pilot, said: “We’re delighted to now have the second AW169 here with us at the airbase. Several of our pilot team were lucky enough to carry out the ferry flight from Italy to the UK, and it’s great to see that final leg of the journey to our airbase completed today. Robust checks and inspections have already been carried out, and the team now looks forward to carrying out the final test flights over the next few weeks.”
The aircraft will now undergo what is known as a ‘shakedown’ period, where the pilots carry out approximately 20 flying hours of final tests, before G-CNLL can go into operation.
The public’s first chance to see the second helicopter up close will be at the charity’s blue lights festival, Helifest, taking place on Saturday 19th July at Scorrier House near Redruth.
Final test flights are taking place as Cornwall Air Ambulance’s second AW169 helicopter undergoes a ‘shakedown’ period before going into operation.
The shakedown testing period involves the pilot team carrying out around 20 hours of flying time on the aircraft, to check that everything is working in the expected parameters before being used for HEMS (Helicopter Emergency Medical Service) missions.
This should take around two weeks to complete, during which time the pilots will carry out numerous start-ups and shut-downs, landings and thorough usage of all the avionics, flight controls and systems.
During this time the crew will also be able to check that the updated medical fit in the rear cabin, which has been ergonomically designed by the clinical team, is configured correctly. Each piece of equipment is specifically positioned to allow the crew rapid access to kit on scene, so loading and unloading is important to test.
Once the shakedown testing is complete, the aircraft can go into operation and be used for our critical care missions across Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly.
Adam Smith, Unit Chief Pilot, said: “We are delighted that our supporters have come together to raise the funds needed during our Heli2 appeal, putting us in this fantastic position of owning two state of the art AW169 helicopters which will help us save many more lives for years to come. With the arrival of your new aircraft having taken place, we’re now entering a period known as ‘shakedown’, which is an important part of the process as we need to test the aircraft as close as we can to its operational requirements. We must make sure that it is capable of being started up quickly, flown hard, at speed, to scene and shut down again, consistently and for back-to-back missions if required.
“It is also a great way to be able to utilise the aircraft before it goes into service. We’ll be using the flying hours to capture some great content of your new helicopter, including shots of the Cornish coast from the air, some photography opportunities for our marketing team and also the potential for some pre-surveyed landings out in the community. So not only can we test the aircraft in line with its operational use, we can also make the most of having an additional helicopter at our disposal.”
Once the 20-hours flying time is complete the second aircraft is scheduled to go into operation in two weeks’ time.
The new AW169, G-CNLL, was brought over to the UK from Leonardo Helicopters in Italy earlier this year. It then underwent several months’ worth of work for its medical fit at Gama Aviation in Gloucester, to turn it into a fully functioning critical care resource.
The arrival of the second helicopter is a major milestone in the charity’s history. It is thanks to the generosity of the public during the 18-month Heli2 Appeal, which raised £2.85million towards the additional aircraft.
Tim Bunting, Chief Executive, said: “This is a momentous day for Cornwall Air Ambulance and the people of Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. We were the very first UK Air Ambulance service – and our latest arrival today will help us continue to save many more lives and provide the best possible service. Thanks to the generosity of a huge number of people, we now have two state-of-the-art helicopters at our disposal. This enables us to provide the very best possible critical care service to those who need us. We could not have done this without your support, so on behalf of all of us here at the charity, thank you.”
Owning a second technologically advanced AW169 helicopter will significantly boost the charity’s versatility, capability and resilience, by enabling the crew to attend more of their missions by air across their 365-day-a-year service.
Adam Smith, Unit Chief Pilot, said: “We’re delighted to now have the second AW169 here with us at the airbase. Several of our pilot team were lucky enough to carry out the ferry flight from Italy to the UK, and it’s great to see that final leg of the journey to our airbase completed today. Robust checks and inspections have already been carried out, and the team now looks forward to carrying out the final test flights over the next few weeks.”
The aircraft will now undergo what is known as a ‘shakedown’ period, where the pilots carry out approximately 20 flying hours of final tests, before G-CNLL can go into operation.
The public’s first chance to see the second helicopter up close will be at the charity’s blue lights festival, Helifest, taking place on Saturday 19th July at Scorrier House near Redruth.
Second helicopter to undergo ‘shakedown’ testing period
Final test flights are taking place as Cornwall Air Ambulance’s second AW169 helicopter undergoes a ‘shakedown’ period before going into operation.
The shakedown testing period involves the pilot team carrying out around 20 hours of flying time on the aircraft, to check that everything is working in the expected parameters before being used for HEMS (Helicopter Emergency Medical Service) missions.
This should take around two weeks to complete, during which time the pilots will carry out numerous start-ups and shut-downs, landings and thorough usage of all the avionics, flight controls and systems.
During this time the crew will also be able to check that the updated medical fit in the rear cabin, which has been ergonomically designed by the clinical team, is configured correctly. Each piece of equipment is specifically positioned to allow the crew rapid access to kit on scene, so loading and unloading is important to test.
Once the shakedown testing is complete, the aircraft can go into operation and be used for our critical care missions across Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly.
Adam Smith, Unit Chief Pilot, said: “We are delighted that our supporters have come together to raise the funds needed during our Heli2 appeal, putting us in this fantastic position of owning two state of the art AW169 helicopters which will help us save many more lives for years to come. With the arrival of your new aircraft having taken place, we’re now entering a period known as ‘shakedown’, which is an important part of the process as we need to test the aircraft as close as we can to its operational requirements. We must make sure that it is capable of being started up quickly, flown hard, at speed, to scene and shut down again, consistently and for back-to-back missions if required.
“It is also a great way to be able to utilise the aircraft before it goes into service. We’ll be using the flying hours to capture some great content of your new helicopter, including shots of the Cornish coast from the air, some photography opportunities for our marketing team and also the potential for some pre-surveyed landings out in the community. So not only can we test the aircraft in line with its operational use, we can also make the most of having an additional helicopter at our disposal.”
Once the 20-hours flying time is complete the second aircraft is scheduled to go into operation in two weeks’ time.
AW169 G-CNLL ( UK Air Ambulances )
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