Sun, Jul 26, 2009
Effective In Firefighting, SAR, And Medivac Roles
AgustaWestland announced Thursday at the Airborne Law
Enforcement Association's Annual Conference that the Los Angeles
Fire Department (LAFD) has signed for a third AW139 medium-twin
helicopter. This aircraft will join the two AW139s already in
service performing critical aerial fire-fighting, medevac and
search and rescue missions in Los Angeles and the surrounding
communities. This aircraft will be produced at AgustaWestland's
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania production facility.
"Los Angeles Fire Department is at the forefront of aerial
fire-fighting tactics, we are honored to be part of this
internationally recognized team and the confidence they place in
the AW139 every day," said Louis Bartolotta, Executive Vice
President of Marketing and Sales, Americas.
LAFD initially selected the AW139 based on a number of criteria,
which included safety, economy, performance and capability. This
most recent selection confirms the AW139's unique characteristics
to successfully accomplish aerial fire-fighting, medevac and search
and rescue missions with excellent performance and operational
effectiveness, state-of-the-art avionics and industry leading
safety levels, while remaining the best value on the market
today.
Battalion Chief Joseph Foley said, "We believe the AW139 is
simply the best value helicopter in terms of performance and
capability. We can respond faster with increased loads in an
aircraft that exceeds current safety standards."
File Photo
Since 2007, the AW139 has been deployed as a fire-fighting
platform, expanding the number of public services applications,
which includes homeland security, emergency medical service, search
and rescue and airborne law enforcement. Other customers for
fire-fighting AW139s include the Gangwon Fire Fighting Department
in the Republic of Korea and the Malaysian Fire and Rescue
Department.
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