SE-JIA

Information

SE-JIA is a backup EMS helicopter operated by Babcock Scandinavian AirAmbulance.

History
This helicopter was constructed as an N2 version in Marginane, France, back in 1991. It was registered F-WYMF for trial purposes on 16 May 1991 and was exported to the company Aeroservicios Especializados SA in Mexico, reg XA-RWZ, in July the same year. The stories then get quite blurry, but one version states that the helicopter was later captured and used for illegal drug smuggling. It was finally withdrawn from use and abandoned in a grounded condition in ~2000.

The helicopter was transported back to the factory in France together with two other Mexican AS 365s in early-2003. Eurocopter re-built the entire machine practically from scratch and took the opportunity to make it a more powerful N3 version instead of an N2.

The aircraft was purchased by the leading Scandinavian air medical company Lufttransport in the spring of 2004. By this time the machine was practically brand new again.

The aircraft was flown from Marginane to the company's main base in Norwegian Tromsø via Dijon, Cassel, Mamlö, Gothenburg, Uppsala and Östersund in June 2004. Piloted by Lufttransport Svenska's flight operations manager Thure Waplan the flight-time from Marginane to Uppsala was incredible 7 hours and 51 minutes. The helicopter remained in Tromsø for a couple of months, being modified for its upcoming EMS service in Uppsala. The new interior was designed and installed in the country by the American company Heli-Dyne Systems. The various parts were fabricated to the hospital's specifications at the company's facility in Hurst, TX, and then shipped to Scandinavia. As the machine left Norway and came back to Uppsala in mid-September it only took a week before it entered service as the intensive care unit "Lufttransport 993" on 23 September 2004.
It was officially displayed for the media for the first time approx a month later, on 28 October 2004.

Uppsala University Hospital
Lufttransport took over the EMS helicopter activity in Uppsala after Norrlandsflyg in the autumn of 2003. The company initially used an AS 365 N2 (LN-OLL) while waiting for the more powerful N3 helicopter to arrive. LN-OLL was replaced by SE-JIA on 23 September 2004. The Uppsala University Hospital mainly uses the machine for inter-hospital transports, but the helicopter is also available for local EMS missions in the county. Lufttransport 993 carries a highly experienced crew of four; two pilots, one anaesthetic doctor and one anaesthetic nurse. It's based at Fyrislund Rescue Station (ESEI), rather close to central Uppsala. Lufttransport's contract with Uppsala University Hospital was valid for five years, from 1 October 2003, plus two more years as an option.

SE-JIA was replaced by SE-JID, a brand new N3 Dauphin with lots of improvements, in May 2009.

SE-JIA was put through a major overhaul in 2010, where it was repainted into a classic yellow-green ambulance livery.

EMS in Norrbotten
Scandinavian MediCopter (Lufttransport renamed) was awarded an EMS contract with Norrbotten County Council in 2010. The operation was initiated on 1st of December 2010 helped by a leased Dauphin (LN-OLE). SE-JIA was chosen as the regular machine and it soon entered service at the base in Gällivare.

Backup aircraft
SE-JIA served in Gällivare between January 2011 and March 2012, before it was replaced by the newly refurbished N3 Dauphin SE-JRB. SE-JIA took the role as general back-up aircraft in Scandinavian MediCopter.

On 30 November 2016 Scandinavian MediCopter changed its name to Babcock Scandinavian AirAmbulance as part of a global branding synchronization with the owner Babcock International Group. The new profile included a new logotype, but the operation and the structure of the company remained the same.


Odds and ends
Not only was SE-JIA the first N3 version of the Dauhpin in Sweden, it was also a production sister with an earlier Swedish helicopter named SE-JAE. SE-JAE was in service with Helikopter Service AB in the shuttle traffic between Swedish Helsingborg and Kastrup airport in Copenhagen back in the 90's. However, that machine was later sold to Spain.