Ornge most likely selling its 139 fleet
 

Headline is a bit misleading
 

Heli1:

McCallum is the ORNGE CEO

It was actually ORNGE who set the medical cabin layout, so they created the cabin issues themselves.

Maryland State Police operate 139s as Air Ambulance and are very happy with them and their 2 patient layout.

If a public service organisation can squander $500,000 on two motorcycles, it is little wonder they cant spec a helicopter.

It will be interesting to see how the 139 fares elsewhere in the world as an EMS ship. Having recently been round the factory it seems IMHO to be very cramped in the back......

Flawed comparison. Multi-mission police operation responsible for about 12,000 sq miles vs dedicated EMS operation looking at over 400,000 sq miles. By your logic the EH101 is fine for EMS because Canadian SAR uses it to recover injured persons.

Any EMS service in the US using the AW139?

Malabo-
ORNGE is saying they may need smaller, less capable aircraft as a cost cutting measure so your aircraft performance (range) comparison is irrelevant.

There was criticism of the medical cabin layout, which was the point of comparison to the MD State Police which DOES use them 80-85% of time for EMS according to MDSP themselves. Google it.

STARS in Canada is ANOTHER EMS 139 operator. :ok:

ORNGE is another aeromedical program managed by politically appointed doctors.
So what do you expect.

FYI, the 'choppers' were made by OCC for the 'American Chopper' programme on the Discovery Channel:

Ornge EMS Bike | American Chopper | Discovery

Aside from all of the coverage, I imagine that the bikes were auctioned for more than Ornge paid for them.

The AW139 is not an EMS aircraft !
 

Malabo is right !!
This aircraft has been a burden for us, maintenance is horrible (talk about low maintenance when you watch the Agusta advertising?????).
The cost, downtime is way to high for an EMS operation.
There is many aircraft available who will provide a good service for us, this is an offshore machine.
Now, with all politics involved, it is gone be funny to see what they will choose. Of course, Agusta is gone come and try to exchange the 139 for the 169. It will look better for them and they could save their faces with this new deal. So, will see....:D

The circus act called management should have done their homework well before the purchase in the first place....and wil again make more bone head decisions that come directly off the taxpayers backs. It's okay thought....its Ontario, home of the Maple Laffs.....:}

Sorry Bravo73 but this is supposed to be a healthcare provider. What are they spending this amount of money on bikes for? Your link tells little, but your posting states Ornge 'paid' which would likely be unlawful where I am. 'circus management' seems about right

My 'posting states Ornge 'paid'' because the original article says, "After ORNGE took delivery of the helicopters, AgustaWestland agreed to donate $2.9 million (U.S.) to ORNGE’s charitable foundation. Of that, $500,000 was spent on two custom-made motorcycles."

The rest is just supposition on my part. After watching an awful lot of edisodes of American Chopper, the common MO for these charities would be to auction the bikes. The charity would then get back a lot more than they paid ie, it is a fundraising exercise. Add to that the hour's worth of coverage that the charity receives on the Discovery Channel and it's actually bit of a no-brainer.

I just wouldn't be so quick to condemn, without knowing both sides of the story.

Bravo,

The status of the choppers was covered extensively in the 2011-12 investigations, covered in the previous thread. One was retained by ORNGE at its HQ ("as auditors move in and out of the ORNGE building they pass a beautiful orange motorcycle, one of two “ORNGE choppers” custom built by Orange County Choppers for the US television show, American Chopper"), while the second was "in storage in the New York state."

http://www.thestar.com/content/dam/t...letterbox.jpeg

The quoted cost of the two bikes rose from $80-100,000 (claimed by AW's Lou Bartolotta) to $150,000 (claimed by ORNGE) to the actual figure of $500,000 discovered by the auditor.

Quote:

---

The auditor...found that AgustaWestland had struck a deal to give one of ORNGE’s charities $2.9 million over several years. The only funds that flowed were $500,000, which was used to build two “ORNGE Choppers,” motorcycles Mazza wanted for fundraising events. Previously, ORNGE has said the choppers cost just $150,000 in total.

One of the two choppers recently sold for $30,000 and ORNGE will receive that money back. McCarter noted that much of the other wasted money will never be recovered.

---

I/C

Ah, fair enough. That all sounds pretty damning.






(Thank gawd for my 'The rest is just supposition on my part' caveat...) :O

The AW139 has been operated very successfully as a dedicated EMS machine by the Queensland government and CHC under contract to the NSW government for 7 years or so. So successfully in fact that the latest Victorian government EMS tender will require most of the 412's to be replaced by 139's and the new NSW contract requires MORE 139's.

I agree with Marksix. Whilst I'm a B412 driver and am biased towards Bell products, the rest of the world seems to operate the 139 perfectly fine and as Marksix points out, it is so successful in fact in some regions that it is the preferred type.

Mark Six.... here's an opportunity for you to make a few bucks commision... Put NSW in contact with Ornge..... heli's going cheap - need new homes...

:}

ORNGE not ORANGE
 

There are currently 2 S76a models of theirs for sale on the federal surplus site.

And it is ORNGE not ORANGE, the A was for Accountablity, so they took it out

Toll, Australian Helicopters and Westpac Lifesaver won the EMS tenders and presumably are all in the process of acquiring 139's. Having lost the NSW contract (and Victorian), the incumbent (CHC) may have a few machines coming up for sale.

Marksix, you also forgot to mention the Darwin EMS 139, as well as Careflight QLD recently getting a contract for several 139's in southern QLD.

ROG - Maybe they should change to ORANGE
 

As from what I can make out the new management team are putting Accountability back into this operation.