A group of consultants at the Pilgrim Hospital proposed a helicopter service to ferry seriously ill patients to specialist units at other hospitals, avoiding the lengthy transfer times associated with Lincolnshire's road system. The Lincolnshire Air Ambulance was formed at RAF Waddington in April 1994. Due to the proximity of Waddington to Nottinghamshire, it was soon extended to Nottinghamshire in 1997. The charitable trust was formed on 9 February 1993.
Operational service
Its management has close co-operation with the East Midlands Ambulance Service, who request assistance if a patient requires urgent medical treatment and transfer to a hospital Emergency Department. Other air ambulances in the Midlands are straddled over several counties; Lincolnshire is the largest administrative county in central England, and the air ambulance is particularly beneficial given the width and undulating character of the Fen roads across the east of the county. More-seriously injured patients are normally ferried to the Queen's Medical Centre in Nottingham or Hull Royal Infirmary rather than Boston, Grantham, Lincoln or Scunthorpe. In November 2013, the service completed its full night mission, responding to the scene and delivering the casualty to hospital in the hours of darkness with a single pilot. The Lincs and Notts service has trained all its Paramedic aircrew in the use of night vision goggles, which alleviates the need for two pilot operations, expanding the skill set of the aircrew. In the July 2015, the operational crew moved into a new purpose designed building at RAF Waddington, moving from the old V-bomber standby building the crew had used since 1994. The new building provides much more space and comes complete with a training and meeting room, ops room, crew room and several other needed improvements. The helicopter is fully night equipped including a search light.
The original helicopter used was a MBB Bo 105, G-PASC, in service between 1994 and 2000. G-LNAA, the helicopter operated by the service between 2000 and 2010, was returned to Specialist Aviation Services at Gloucestershire Airport, where it was overhauled before being used as the fleet-spare for their medical operations. In November 2010, the service took delivery of a new MD902 Explorer, capable of flying for longer, faster and fully equipped for night operations. The aircraft retains the yellow colour scheme worn by its predecessor, but has the registration of G-LNCT, after the Charitable Trust. In October 2015, the charity announced that it had ordered an AgustaWestland AW169 aircraft to replace their current MD902. The news AW169 was formally accepted by the charity in July 2016, registered G-LNAC.
