THIRTY YEARS AND COUNTING…
It was the winter of 1986, and the seed was planted for an air transport company which would eventually become North Flight EMS Air Division. Starting that summer and for 30 years afterward North Flight EMS transported patients from accident scenes and from hospital to hospital with a perfect safety record. The first aircraft was an Alouette III SA 316 B. It was a tiny
craft in which the crew rode sitting sideways adjacent to the patient. Fortunately, this was just a temporary craft until the Aerospatiale A-Star 350 was ready. The first patient flight took place on June 11th, 1986, and was an inter-facility transfer from Paul Oliver Memorial Hospital to Munson Medical Center. Our first scene flight was at the corner of Four Mile Road and Hammond. We look back and marvel now at some of the “close-in” calls that were done by helicopter! Obviously, it was a HUGE learning curve! In 1988, just 2 years into our operation, it was decided that a fixed wing aircraft would enhance the ability of North Flight to serve the people of northern Michigan by expanding our service area to out-of-state health care facilities such as the Cleveland Clinic and Mayo Clinic. A small Cessna 401 was the first aircraft used for long distance and cross country transfers. Many a LONG transfer took place in that little fixed wing! In 1998, North Flight purchased a Mitsubishi MU-2. In the year 2005, we upgraded our fixed wing service again with the purchase of a Beechcraft King Air B200, which is still in service today. In the meantime, numerous changes were taking place in the helicopter program. Based at Munson Hospital initially, the air program moved in 1993 to Cherry Capital Airport. The type of missions flown by the service gradually changed over these years. Initially, North Flight was the only ALS agency in large parts of northern Michigan, so 75-80% of the flights were scene work, with only 20-25% being inter-facility transfers. With the advancement of so many outlying areas into ALS service, the balance shifted to 90% inter-facility work, with very high acuity patients. In July of 1990, North Flight added a dedicated Ground Mobile Intensive Care Unit to its fleet in Grayling. In September of 1993, Grand Traverse EMS joined North Flight, Inc. The Ground Division has since transitioned to Mobile Medical Response (MMR). Big changes came in 2016, when North Flight Rotor Wing Air Division became part of a new company, North Flight Aero Med (NFAM). The new company is owned by Munson and by Spectrum as a 50/50 joint venture. North Flight Aero Med is operated by Spectrum Health Hospitals, and all of the staff are now employed by Spectrum Health. NFAM operates a Sikorsky S-76 helicopter and a King Air B200 airplane throughout northern Michigan. In February 2017, North Flight Aero Med moved from the hangar at 1840 Stultz Drive to a brand new facility at the same address. The Sikorsky S-76 and King Air B200 have a beautiful home. All in all, it’s been a very interesting and exciting 35 plus years of service, and North Flight Aero Med continues the tradition of serving the air transport needs of northern Michigan.
