REACH Air Medical Services

REACH Air Medical Services is an air and ground medical transport company. Its headquarters are at McClellan, California, near Sacramento. It flies critical care patients in helicopters and airplanes.

Services

REACH does emergency transport, patient transfers between hospitals, and search and rescue flights. It also runs ground ambulances. Teams include nurses, paramedics, pilots and aircraft mechanics.

Aircraft

The helicopter fleet includes the H135, H125 and H130, plus Bell 407 helicopters that fly under visual rules. The airplanes are the Beechcraft King Air B200 and the Pilatus PC-12. REACH says it flies under its own FAA Part 135 air carrier certificate.

Coverage area

REACH serves California, Colorado, Hawaii, Nevada, Oregon and Wyoming. Its service area page also covers the Cal-Ore Life Flight and Sierra Lifeflight programs.

Facts

• Founded in 1987 as Redwood Empire Air Care Helicopter, by Dr. John L. McDonald Jr.
• Merged with CALSTAR in 2016
• Part of Global Medical Response since 2018
• Accredited by CAMTS since 1998, as stated on its site
• Has a GPS routing program approved by the FAA for flying off airway

Safety and maintenance

The site says every base has a full time mechanic. It also says REACH uses night vision goggles for night flying. Many of its helicopters can fly by instruments, which helps in poor weather. Pilots, nurses and paramedics work with a communications center that takes flight requests. The site describes its mission in one line: do what is right for the patient in every situation.