Air ambulance operator Brasil Vida Taxi Aereo has completed two ECMO (extracorporeal membrane oxygenation) medical transportations this year and is said to be the only operator in Brazil able to service this demand. “Our flights are 90 per cent air ambulance missions and 10 per cent executive flights,” says inter-national director James DeSouza. “Our entire team is very proud to have been able to accomplish such a delicate medical transportation as an ECMO.

“We just added a Learjet 35A to our fleet, and it should be ready to operate on our certificate as an air ambulance in the coming months. We have a diverse fleet – for example, our Westwind I and II are great for our international long-haul missions and we operate three Learjet 31As which are more economical to operate than the Westwinds, so they are well used inside Brazilian territory for our shorter jet flights. We feel that our recent acquisition of the Learjet 35A will fit in perfectly between the long range of the Westwinds and the speed of our Learjet 31As. We also operate most of the Piper Cheyenne models (I, II and III) for our turboprop needs. These are often used for landing on dirt strips. And recently we added a King Air 200 for executive charters.”

Brasil Vida frequently transports patients from various parts of Brazil and South America to São Paulo, where medical facilities are recog-nised as being of an international standard. “We have many requests for flights from northern Brazil, where hospital facilities are less good, particularly the ICU requirements. And we have two Piper Seneca IIs for our very short field requirements, perhaps when we need to get a patient out of a remote area. We then transfer them to our jet or turboprop, in a wing-to-wing operation, to continue the mission.”

Fleet diversity has been crucial in the operator’s success, and DeSouza says that he would like to add a midsize jet. The team is also considering further Cheyennes and King Airs.

However it can be difficult to work with ANAC at times. He explains: “ANAC looks at the way things work in the rest of the world, such as with the FAA, then adds its own twist to the rules. ANAC also makes us pay a fee for anything that we do outside of Brazil such as simulator training; but sim training isn’t offered in Brazil. In any case, we are focused on continuing to grow our air ambulance operation nationally and internationally.”

Brasil Vida has been providing air ambulance services for the past 15 years. Strategically located in central Brazil, and with four satellite bases to cover a massive land-area, it conducts an average of four missions a day. While the majority are within South America, it also goes to Central America, the Caribbean, North America and Europe. Its permanent medical team is reinforced by a regularly contracted panel of ICU-experienced doctors and nurses. Of the 1,400 cases handled in 2018, more than 90 per cent were for neonatal, paediatrics, cardiac or trauma patients, using in-house equipment and medical resources.