Pocono News Section

New Life Flight Lands in Lycoming County

New Life Flight Lands in Lycoming County - Monday, October 29, 2007 at 5:13PM EST

Reported by: Lorena Beniquez
Monday, Oct 29, 2007 @05:13pm EST

MONTOURSVILLE, LYCOMING COUNTY - The latest addition to Geisinger's fleet of medical helicopters has landed in Montoursville. The state of the art Life Flight will get patients where they need to go faster with a cruising speed of 140 m.p.h. "This has a lot of power in it. It's much newer so it can accommodate more people in it actually," said Life Flight Nurse Kim Johnson.

Because the helicopter is better equipped than the last one, it gives the crew more flexibility in emergency situations. For instance, if weather conditions are not crystal clear, auto-pilot will safely guide the aircraft. Pilot Tony Herbey said, "We go in any kind of weather...day..night. I mean, accidents don't stop." Johnson added, "We will go to local hospitals. We will go to a Geisinger hospital. We will go to State College, Altoona, Rochester, Johns Hopkins. So we have a very large coverage area and it's limited by our amount of fuel which is about two hours."

The new helicopter also provides more room for more patients. Unlike the previous craft, this one can carry patients of all sizes from babies to larger adults. In addition, there are up to the minute weather updates and satellite tracking.