How We Help The Care We Provide Our Fleet Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance operates a fleet to provide critical care and enhanced medical services to the communities we serve. Operating 19 hours daily (7:00 am – 2:00 am), our fleet includes the AW169 helicopter, one critical care car and outreach cars, ensuring we can respond rapidly to emergencies by air or land. Our Helicopter: The AW169 Our AgustaWestland 169 (AW169) helicopter, affectionately called Pegasus, entered service on 12 June 2017. It was the first AW169 to join air ambulance operations in the UK, chosen for its superior capabilities, advanced safety features, and enhanced patient-focused design. Key features Operating Hours 7:00am – 2:00am Registration Number G-DSAA Call Sign Helimed One Zero Cruise Speed 130 knots (~150 mph) Range Approximately 300 miles Landing Requirements 30m circle minimum Enhanced Medical Equipment The AW169 offers a spacious cabin, providing full access to patients during treatment. This advanced setup allows our Critical Care Team to perform life-saving interventions en route to hospital. The kit we carry Advanced Safety Features Glass Cockpit Exceptional visibility for situational awareness, minimised pilot workload and safety profile. Night-Flying Capabilities Enables operations in complete darkness without fixed lighting. Largest Cabin in Its Class Flexible design accommodates stretchers, life-saving equipment, and sliding doors for ease of access. Our Critical Care Car Complementing our helicopter, we operate a Skoda Kodiaq critical care car. This vehicle allows us to respond to emergencies when weather or other factors limit helicopter availability between the hours of 7:00am and 2:00am. Role in our service: Ensure rapid response during adverse flying conditions. Our Outreach Cars We operate two Skoda Kodiaq outreach cars, between the hours of 10:00am and 10:00pm. One car is based in Somerset and the other in Dorset. These vehicles are manned by Specialist Practitioners are primarily outreach vehicles but do also enable us to respond to emergencies, providing an additional enhanced care service by road across Dorset and Somerset. Key features Regulations Fully converted through South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SWASfT) to meet ambulance regulations. Equipment Equipped with life-saving resuscitation equipment including sophisticated monitors, ultrasound, blood gas analysers, state of the art ventilators and much more. Enhanced Care Designed to deliver the same level of care as a land ambulance plus more. Role in our service: Provide additional resources for simultaneous emergencies requiring air and land response. Extend enhanced care capability across the region. Strengthens our response to critically ill and injured patients wherever they are. Find out more about outreach Manage Cookie Preferences