AIR APPARENT

Air ambulance charities provide vital support to the emergency services, to save lives on Britain's roads. 

- John Evans

On average, each day five people die on UK roads and 84 are seriously injured. Those are sobering figures, but it's comforting to know that rushing to provide assistance at the scene are not only the land-based emergency services but also one that arrives from above: the air ambulance service.

There are 21 such services around the UK and, remarkably, they are all charities reliant for most of their income on donations. The first to take to the skies was Cornwall Air Ambulance, in 1987. Today, it and its 20 fellow services together fly around 80 missions per day, 32% of those involving medical emergencies while 68% are attending traumatic injuries.

Providing emergency cover across a large swathe of the south-east is the Kent, Surrey, Sussex Air Ambulance Charity (KSS). From its main base at Redhill Aerodrome and its forward-operating base at Rochester airport, KSS's two Agusta Westland 169 helicopters (there's a third in reserve) typically fly eight missions across two shifts per 24-hour period. In 2021, 863 of its missions (28% of the total) involved road accidents (RTCs). Last year was KSS's busiest on record, with 2063 helicopter call-outs in total, an average of nearly six per day.