Flight milestone for emergency 'copter company

County-based Specialist Aviation Services (SAS) is celebrating 100,000 flying hours operating the MD 902 Explorer helicopters for emergency services and utilities.

SAS has it headquarters at Gloucestershire Airport at Staverton and is the largest operator of Explorers in the world.

It first introduced the helicopters into the UK in 1998 as a dual role police and air ambulance helicopter and now supports over 20 Explorers.

The fleet has amassed over a quarter of a million flights and several Explorers are operating 24 hours a day and achieving up to 1,500 flying hours a year.

SAS group managing director Henk Schaeken said: "Reaching this level of utilisation demonstrates the significant role the Explorer plays for our customers in the industry.

"We now have over 30 engineers operating in and around the UK and comprehensive spares holdings at our Gloucestershire headquarters."

He added: "Our significant experience with the MD 902 means that we have been able to develop technical enhancements locally, driving component extensions and streamlining maintenance programmes.

"These all help to further enhance the reliability and maintainability of the fleet." SAS employs 140 staff in the UK and overseas of which 60 are based at Staverton. The company operates 15 air ambulances and 13 police helicopters.

Meanwhile Gloucestershire airport based aircraft and avionics maintenance company RGV Aviation Ltd is launching a new one-stop paint shop in June. The family-run business was first established in 1973 and RGV Aviation director Stuart Vincent said: "The new paint shop will allow us to go above and beyond to meet the needs of our customers."